Kairo
by Suzume-Kage
Summary: Everyone's favorite little Hina has many suitors. She might have more than she thinks. GaaHina, What happens when a demon chooses Hinata for a host? The shinobi need all the help they can get. Tales of Symphonia crossovers. Discontinued.
1. Hina Modify!

Song by Utada Hikaru – Song Name Kairo

"_Fune ga isseki kuroi nami wo utsu  
Takusan no keshiki nagametai  
Gakubuchi wo erabu no wa tanin  
Kakurenbo watashi wa hateshi nai_

_Haru no hizashi ga watashi wo terasu_

_Mou ichido chichi to hanashitai  
Bannen no aru otoko no negai  
Kakurenbo oni wa dete ko nai_

_Kyou toi ichinichi mo  
Saisho kara kimatteta koto na no ka  
Kakurenbo tsugi wa kimi shidai_…"

Hyuuga Hinata sang the lyrics to the song with perfection, just as she always did when she sang one of her favorite songs. She was in her room, outside in her balcony that overlooked the highest hill in Konoha. Hinata lowered her lavender eyes to the street below her. No one was outside.

Hinata was an elite level shinobi of 17. Her appearance has changed drastically. Her usual oversized sweater was gone and replaced by a purple colored kimono that was fastened together with a bright pink obi which was tied into a large bow that fanned out like wings behind her back, and the ends of the outfit came down to the middle of her thighs. The training pants were gone and were replaced by a pair of black leggings. To top off her new outfit, she wore a pair of matching purple boots with circular patterns on them. She also had on purple fingerless gloves that reached up to her elbows. Any man would have drooled if they saw her, but she scarcely leaves her apartment. Yes it was true, Hinata Hyuuga had declined the offer to become the Hyuuga Heiress. She gave up the throne to her sister Hanabi because she didn't think she was the right person for the job.

She looked down at her new battle outfit. 'Let's see everyone's reaction tomorrow.' She thought to herself. Sighing to herslf, she exited through the sliding bamboo doors that lead to her room. She sighed and sat on one of the brown leather couches and looked around her home. The place was pretty big, 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, an office and a kitchen. Perfect for one person. The rest of the gang lives in the same apartment building. Hinata lived all the way on the 13nth floor, everyone lived on different floors. Gaara had become Kazakage back in Suna. Hinata had lost all feelings for Naruto when she saw something she shouldn't have. (She saw Naruto and Sakura kissing on the park bench) What really cheesed her off was that Sakura was secretly chasing Sasuke. Even though Naruto broke her heart, she couldn't hate him forever, being the kind soul that she is, she now thinks of Naruto as a friend and that they just weren't meant to be. Ino and Shikamaru have gotten together, as have Neji and Tenten. Lee was crushing on this chinese girl named Chai they met on one of their elite ninja group missions. Much to Lee's likes, Chai was an expert in Tai Kwon Do. Chai was brought back, to Konoha and Tsunade took her in. Hinata smiled sadly to herself.

'Everyone found someone special except for me… heck even the Hokage herself had a boyfriend!' she thought, very frustrated.

She got up from her seat on the couch and stalked over to her office. She twisted the doorknob and opened the door slowly. She remembered the fact that everyone found someone specail but her and she gripped the door knob tighter, and slammed the door behind her. She sucked in a deep breath and walked over to her green mahogany desk. She spotted the folder with the mission description papers. She picked it and tookout the first sheet.

Mission: Find Miru, the Ice demon.

Area- Ice Country

Ninjas needed for the mission will be announced at the hokage tower in two weeks.

Those two weeks ended now and Hinata was sure she was going, for her medical skills had sky rocketed to a level that not even Sakura could achieve. They were both taught their medical skills by Shizune and Tsunade, but Tsunade had more faith in Hinata. Hinata also persuaded Tsunade into teaching her a secret fighting style, because she was no longer part of the Hyuuga clan. Hinata was more than ready for this mission, she just needed to be chosen over Sakura, or maybe both of them could go. Tsunade will mot likely tell them both to go because she'll think that 'two healers are better than one'. Hinata certainley didn't fancy this idea though, she didn't want to be with a girl who was messing with Naruto's feelings. 'Doesn't Naruto know that Sakura doesn't realy like him? Didn't he know that she was using him to get to Sasuke!? Gosh he was dense! When I liked him, he never bothered to look my way!' she thought to herself angrily. "Seriously! Sakura is such a snitch!" she said the last part out loud. She practically threw the folder on the desk. How can Naruto like someone like her? Her lavender eyes narrowed into slits and she planted her hands on her hips. 'Sakura is SO out of her league here! Sasuke doesn't even want her!' Hinata yelled uncharactaristically to herself.

She walked over to the door and looked back at the mission folder. She squinted her eyes in disgust, and walked out.

* * *

XxXxXx

Sigh I know! There is a lot of talk about Sakura and Naruto, but GaaHina is going to reveal gradually ok? To see Hinata's new battle outfit check my profile, and click the first link, to listen to the song Kairo, click the second link. This chapter was mostly about Hinata because she has changed. If you got confused in the middle part, to break it down, the love chain is Naru wants Saku, Saku wants Sasu, and Sasu wants Hina, but when they go to Suna, Gaara sees Hinata, and you know what happens next.

Ja Ne!


	2. Mission Meeting

Kairo Chapter 2

Sunlight poured through her widow. Hinata squinted her eyes in attempt to shield her burning eye balls. It was the day that the ninjas that are going to participate on the mission are going to be chosen. 'Man, I hope Sakura's not coming…' Hinata thought to herself as she lay on her bed wearing her light blue night dress. She lazily got up and walked over to her vanity. She absently picked up a tube of tinted kiwi lip gloss. She applied a dab to her bottom lip. 'Well, anyway if I don't make the team then maybe I can try out for ANBU. That'd show Sakura.' She made a mental commitment to herself. Putting down the lip gloss she licked it off her lip and strolled down to the bathroom.

As Hinata brushed her teeth, she noticed her reflection in the mirror. The face in the mirror was Hinata, but there was something wrong with her face. Her eyes were dark purple, and they seemed hollow. Her skin had a bluish tinge and her lips were pale pink and were set in a grim line, her hair was dark purple instead of navy blue.

"Who? H-How?!" Hinata stammered out loud. But as she did this the reflection in the mirror mimicked it. Hinata started to shake and brought up one trembling hand and touched the mirror, her double copied this. Hinata gasped and squeezed her eyes shut, when she opened them three minutes later, her altered double was no longer there. Hinata gasped ad saw that it was her old self staring back at her. 'That was weird…' she put her tooth brush in a cup and spit into the sink while eyeing the mirror.

She walked out of the bathroom and stopped short. 'Oh my god…' right in front of her was the phantom in the mirror. It stared at her with empty amethyst orbs. Hinata stepped a few paces back and just stared at the being at the end of the hallway. It wore a long cobalt blue kimono with silver linings; its long purple hair fell down in waves over her shoulders. "W-W-What a-a-are yo-u-u?" Hinata's voice was shaking as bad as her body was. The form just stared blankly at her and disappeared.

"Whoa." Hinata barely whispered. She felt scared but there were more important things that needed to be taken care of. She glanced at the clock on the wall. 'Oh shit!' She was late! Only twenty-five minutes left until the meeting, and Hinata still needed to get ready.

She rushed into her bedroom and crashed into her dresser. "Shoot! Ow!" she cried jumping up and down on one foot while holding the other. 'Grr… no time for that right now, I have to get dressed!' She grabbed her new outfit and put on the low-cut top first, then her leggings, and put her kimono on. She jumped into her boots and tied the pink obi in a large bow around her waist. She grabbed a white ribbon and tied her hair into a single pigtail. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her lavender eyes traveled down to her reflections chest and her cheeks turned pink. The kimono did show some cleavage, but Temari said that Hinata had curves that most girls would kill to have. Her eyes scanned the outfit down to the end of the kimono which came up to her mid-thighs. 'Much better than the old training pants we had to wear back at the Academy.' She noted. She turned herself around to get a look at her obi. She smiled; the bow was like a ribbon because the two ends of the obi were left out and not tied to make the bow bigger. She snapped out of her looks and grabbed a white ribbon from her jewelry box. She tied her hair into a single pigtail, grabbed her matching purple biker gloves and her leaf hitai-ate. She tied the hitai-ate around her left glove before putting it on. She looked around for her kunai holster and strapped that right above her right knee; she also fished out her elemental cards. The cards with magic sealed inside of them were needed to perform her new fighting style, which were the sacred Shogi card arts. The arts were told to be lost, but luckily for Hinata, Tsunade still remembered them and gave Hinata her own deck of cards. The cards were red with different incantations on them. She put them in the carry case and bolted to the front door, grabbing an apple from the kitchen on the way.

The streets of Konoha were busy so it took a few excuse me's to get to the Hokage tower.

After a few minutes of running along the sidewalk, and people kept staring at her but soon Hinata arrived at the Tower. She took one last bite of her red apple and threw it in the trash can beside the door. She stepped into the building and made her way to the elevator. She pressed the top floor button and glanced at the floor indicator.

Tsunade sipped some sake and looked at each of the shinobi in the room. Lee was sitting in a chair watching Sakura. He wore his usual green attire but wore a leather vest over it. His hair had been cut in steps. Sakura was trying to get Sasuke to look at her, she wore a red sleeveless dress that came down to her knees, it had cherry blossoms on it. Sasuke was looking bored while ignoring Sakura's attempts to get him to look at her. He wore a blue and white sleeveless jacket with a red Uchiha fan at the back, camouflage khaki pants ended his outfit. Ino was with Shikamaru and Kiba who were arm wrestling. She wore a blue sleeveless jacket with a white full sleeved shirt under it, she wore a black skirt with silver embroidery. Shikamaru wore his beige jacket and mesh shirt, with black pants. Kiba wore a black hoodie with beige shorts. Tsunade looked over to the right and saw Tenten and Neji sitting on the window sill. Tenten wore a blue and green Chinese styled shirt with short white pants that ended at her ankles, Neji wore a brown jacket with a mesh shirt underneath and a pair of grey pants. Even Chai was there. She was a runaway, so Tsunade took her in. She still didn't know where Chai came from, but treated her as she would treat her own kid, in fact Tsunade thought of her as family. Chai wore a bright green cropped jacket with a low cut shirt underneath that covered her belly, and grey pants. Tsunade sighed. 'They are going to kill me for making them gather here just to hear that they all are going on the mission… Hold the phone… Someone's missing… Ah yes, Hinata still has to show.' She thought as she looked at Naruto who was also staring at Sakura. He wore an orange jacket with a black shirt underneath and matching orange track pants.

Tsunade heard a knock at the door and told everyone to settle down. Sakura looked at the door, flipping her pink hair that was kept open. Everyone stared at the door, even Chai's pale yellow eyes looked at the door other than out the window. The door slid open and the shy lily they knew well stepped into the room. She glanced around the room and gave a friendly smile to Tsunade. Tsunade scanned Hinata up and down. Even she had to admit that Hinata looked ravishing in her battle suit. She watched everyone's expression as they set eyes on the former Hyuuga clan member. Sasuke, Kiba, Naruto, and even Shikamaru went slack mouthed when they saw her. Hinata just smiled and walked over to Tsunade's desk and sat in a chair in front of it. Sasuke, Naruto and Kiba watched her every move. Sakura glared at Hinata obviously jealous, but Ino, Tenten, Chai and Lee grinned at her. Neji just smirked at her. Lee got up and hugged Hinata. "The cute and shy Hinata has bloomed into a beautiful and ravishing lotus!" he broke into a speech about youth, lotus blossoms and life. Hinata giggled and Ino, Tenten and Chai walked over to her. "Nice threads Hinata!" Ino yelled and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Yeah, you have such a nice figure!" Tenten gushed. Chai smiled at Hinata. Sasuke was still staring at Hinata, a hint of lust in his eyes. Sakura looked at Sasuke and followed his gaze to… Hinata! Sakura narrowed her eyes at Hinata and walked away giving a little "Hmph!"

Naruto and Kiba were still standing at the side staring at Hinata. "Whoa… Hinata grew… in both ways…" Kiba observed. Naruto stared at him. "And they say that I'm perverted." He rolled his eyes at his dog loving friend. Naruto looked over to where Sasuke was standing. Naruto and Kiba looked at each other. 'He is falling SO hard for her!' went through both of their minds as they watched him trace Hinata's lithe form with his eyes. They walked over to him. Kiba poked him in the side. Sasuke jumped a bit. "So, we see you've finally taken some interest in Hinata!" Naruto said waggling his eye brows in a mischievous manner. Kiba shook his head as if in pity and put an arm around Sasuke's shoulders. "Yep, we knew it was only a matter of time before you fell into the abyss of Love." He and Naruto snorted with laughter at Kiba's remark. Sasuke, as if just noticing them standing there shook his head as if coming out of a fog. "Nani?" he asked them. Kiba and Naruto stared at him for a second before answering. "You have fallen for Hyuuga Hinata." They both told him in unison. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Huh? No I haven't." he said in his defense. Kiba grinned. "Aw, come on we saw you checking her out! And not to mention the way you were watching her swinging them hips!" he snorted. Kiba sounded like a dirty old man sometimes. 'You gotta admit that the Hyuuga has a killer body!' Sasuke's inner self yelled. Sasuke tried to block out what he, Kiba and Naruto were saying long enough for him to steal a glimpse of the lavender eyed beauty herself.

Tsunade watched everyone chatter away for a few moments. She cleared her throat loudly and everyone looked at her. She cleared her throat again and picked up the mission papers. "Well as it turns out, all of you are included on the mission." She said. Sakura pouted her lips and stamped her foot angrily. "Tsunade-kage! Are you saying that you told us to come all the way to the Hokage Tower just to inform us that we are ALL going?" she asked aggravated. Tsunade batted her long eye lashes innocently at Sakura. "Yes." She replied with a smirk. "Ugh!" Sakura stamped her foot once more.

"All of you must be informed that this mission is ranked A, which means you all have to work together as a team…" Tsunade got up from behind the maroon desk and walked around the room, making eye contact with everyone she passed. "Each one of you have to play your roll and fight alongside each other." She went on as she walked around the room. She stopped in front of Hinata, leaned in so she was whispering in her ear. "Use the Shogi cards well, Hinata, don't let me down." Hinata nodded and promised she would. Tsunade gave her smile and walked back to the desk. Sakura stared at Tsunade and then at Hinata. Everyone else in the room did too, but Chai, Ino and Tenten just nodded and gave their good friend a thumbs-up. "Tsunade what was that about?" Naruto, being the nosey one asked her. Tsunade looked up at him and sighed. "You really want to know?" she asked tiredly. Naruto and all the people in the room nodded. Tsunade sighed again before talking. "I taught Hinata the Shogi card arts." Shikamaru, Sasuke and Lee who knew what the arts were widened their eyes a fraction and looked over to Hinata. Chai didn't know what the arts were, but smirked because she thought it was one more thing that made Hinata better than Sakura. Ino looked surprised and Tenten had her mouth in the shape of an 'o'. Naruto just stood there scratching his head grinning sheepishly. "You want to tell me what that is, Tsunade obaa-san?"He asked, laughing nervously. Tsunade sighed again. "It's a sacred fighting style that uses special kinds of cards as weapons." She explained. Hinata smiled at Tsunade, and Sakura glared at her. "Why did I not know about that?" she asked tapping her foot on the floor with annoyance. Tsunade blinked at the pinkette lazily. "Because I started teaching you medical jutsus first." She answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Sakura flipped her hair as if sparkles would fly off it and walked off. Tsunade winked at Hinata, and she giggled from her spot in the chair. Neji wore a somewhat angry expression as he gazed at his cousin with interest. Who knew that Hinata could perform the Shogi card arts? Certainly not himself. Tsunade got up from her wooden chair and held up her hand in a blessing like way. "You are now dismissed from the meeting, but before you leave for the Ice Country, go to the Sand country to add the sand siblings to the group. Hinata and the rest of the gang dot up from their seats and walked out to the exit. Just before Hinata walked out though, Tsunade pulled her aside and motioned for everyone else to go on ahead. Chai hesitated for a moment but rolled her eyes and walked off with a fast "See ya later mom."

Tsunade looked at Hinata with such intensity, that it was making the young kunoichi squirm. They stayed like that for a few minutes with Hinata standing there and Tsunade's hands resting on her shoulders. "Be careful." Tsunade finally told her. Hinata looked at her surprised. "W-Why? I mean, I know we have to cautious on the journey and everything but why do I have to be careful more than the others?" she asked, desperately trying to find truth behind Tsunade's reasons. Tsunade sighed and took one hand off of her shoulders and held one of Hinata's purple biker gloved hands.

"Hinata…" she tried to say as calmly as possible. Hinata nodded. Tsunade sucked in a deep breath. "People those posses the Shogi card arts often have trouble dealing with demons because they give off a certain kind of energy, much like yours."

She took another deep breath. "The reason why I taught you the arts is because you had the discipline. People who can perform the Shogi style Genjutsu like you only come once in three centuries. The blood of the great Toshiru Shogi flows through your veins, Hinata. Don't die…"

Tsunade said the last part slowly and let it sink in. Hinata looked shocked to hear that she came from a chain of Shogi card masters. 'What? That can't be right!' she thought. "Tsunade-kage, how can that be? All my childhood memories are of the Hyuuga clan!" she exclaimed. Tsunade sighed for like the fifteenth time today. "I know, but that's not where you are really from…" Hinata's lavender eyes widened at this new information. "Your parents are not your biological mom and dad, Hinata." Tsunade continued. Hinata's eyes widened even wider. "B-But I have the family trade-mark! My eyes are white!" Hinata practically yelled, this was getting way too weird. Tsunade let go of her hands and walked to her desk.

She pulled out the drawer and took out a bottle of eye drops. She held it out in front of Hinata's eyes. "Ever used this before?" Tsunade asked her voice serious again. Hinata shook her head. Tsunade gave her a weak smile. "Guess they didn't allow you to, huh? Well that's smart, because then you wouldn't have found out…" she trailed off and gazed at Hinata. Hinata trembled. 'What's happening?!' she watched as Tsunade walked back to her from the desk and told her to relax a bit.

"I am going to put a few drops into you're eyes." Hinata nodded her head and loosened up. Tsunade used her index fingers and held Hinata's right eye open. She held the drop needle right above her eye and squeezed the little rubber end. Two drops came out and fell onto Hinata's eye. There was a small plop as the drop made contact with the smooth surface of her eyes. Tsunade watched as the chemicals in the eye drops gathered around Hinata's light purple iris's and started making the usual lavender shade start dissolving. As the eye drops did their work Tsunade told her assistant Shizune to grab a hand mirror. Tsunade handed the mirror to Hinata and told her not to look yet. Hinata only nodded and continued to stare at Tsunade while trying her best not to blink. Tsunade looked into Hinata's eyes and instead of white pupil-less eyes, she was staring into the most beautiful pair of Chestnut, slightly crimson eyes. And Hinata did have pupils, but she did inherit Shogi blood, so instead of normal brown eyes, there were rings of red here and there.

Tsunade told her to look into the mirror. Hinata looked into the mirror, and instead of her lavender tinted orbs, Chestnut crimson eyes were looking back at her, and in those eyes Hinata saw reflected on her life's work, unlike her previous emotionless ones. 'My eyes were like this the entire time…' she thought as she widened her eyes to see if they were contacts. Nope, they were the real deal. Tsunade looked at her and smiled. "What do you think, Hinata? Tsunade ask her. Hinata looked at Tsunade. "They are great, hard to believe that this is actually what I looked like the past 17 years of my life…" she started quietly. "But, the thing that puzzles me most is that if I can still use my Byakugan… and I wonder about my family." Tsunade smiled again and held her hand, giving it an assuring squeeze. "You can still use it. Try it." Hinata nodded and preformed the hand seals to activate her bloodline ability. It worked, her eyes were red, but the veins popped out in the skin around her eyes. "See?" Hinata looked at Tsunade but she saw her aura, charka patterns and all of her insides. "Err… yes it still works." Hinata replied a bit frightened.

"Good." Tsunade said as she looked at her desk. Hinata deactivated her Byakugan. "Tsunade-kage, you still have to tell me about my family." Hinata reminded her teacher. Tsunade sighed. "Hinata, you are still a Hyuuga but you're special. You may have Hyuuga traits but the blood of Shogi flows through you." Hinata looked at her and smiled. "Thanks for telling me this, Tsunade-kage." Hinata got up and bowed. Tsunade got up as well. "Tell me how you're team reacts when you tell them, I especially would like to see Neji's reaction." They both laughed. Tsunade looked over at the clock on the wall and widened her eyes. "Hinata, everyone is supposed to meant at the gates in three hours! You better go home and pack!" Hinata also looked at the clock and widened her eyes. "Alright! Arigotou Tsunade-kage!" she yelled over her shoulder as she made a dash for the stairs. AS Hinata ran down she was smiling. 'This morning, I woke up a Hyuuga, and now… I'm a Shogi!' she thought as she ran. People on the main floor were giving her an odd look. She heard a woman whisper to a man, "Didn't that girl have white eyes when she came in here?" Hinata smiled even wider. 'Here I come, world!'

* * *

Wow, that took a LONG time to do. Hinata's no longer got white eyes. Let's see her team's reactions next time! Man, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, Hope ya'll had fun reading it. Oh, and remember, the pairings and fluff will arrive gradually, I'm trying not to rush it. Do you think she'll be able to woo over Gaara and Sasuke? Stay in check to find out!

Ja Ne!


	3. Preparing for the Mission

Kairo Chapter 3

Hinata finally reached her Apartment building after dashing home from the Hokage Tower. She felt different because now she actually felt that she was 'somebody'. She wasn't just a Hyuuga, not just a comrade, not just a Medical Nin. No, she was much more than she could ever want to be. Hinata skipped along the hallway of the apartment building and stopped at her door. She was just about to open it when she sensed a disturbance in the background. She turned around and surely enough, Sasuke Uchiha was leaning against the door in front of her own. He was looking at her like her head was on fire. Hinata shuffled her feet nervously, and tried to shield her eyes from view with her arms.

"What's the matter Hinata-chan?" he smirked as he emphasized the suffix.

Hinata tried her best to make her eyes invisible. From far away, if you looked at the way she was standing, you'd think she was being abused.

"I… Have to go!" Hinata shouted while turning around and opening the door rapidly. Sasuke stood in he same position, though he was shocked he didn't show it. 'What was that all about?' he thought still wondering why she seemed like she was hiding something. He turned to his door, and went inside to pack his stuff.

Meanwhile, Hinata was at in her room, packing the things she would need for the trip. 'I hope he didn't see my eyes! I want them to be a surprise… wait, WHAT?!' and here she was fussing over her new eyes, what a joke. 'They probably won't even care, so what's the point…' she moped to herself. She frowned as she brushed back a few indigo tresses. She walked over to her bedroom to gather her belongings. She grabbed her baby blue shoulder bag and paced over to her walk in closet. She gathered a few new outfits. 'I need to buy some more biker gloves to go with these too…' she thought. Indeed, Hinata was obsessed with punk styled clothing, even if she wasn't a Rider, or a Goth. When she was satisfied with the amount of clothing, she made her way over to the washroom to get her tooth brush and hair supplies. She grabbed her purple hair brush and a handful of colored ribbons. She frowned slightly when she remembered Sasuke's expression when he was staring at her in the hallway. 'I wonder what his problem…is' she wondered. But she shrugged it off after a moment and chucked her bag over her shoulder, and headed to her office. She walked in and looked over at her desk. The mission fact file was still there. She wrinkled her nose at the offending piece of paper and grabbed a handful of kunai and shuriken from a case she kept spare weapons in. She packed those as well. She was ready. This was going to be one tough mission. Hinata sighed and shifted her chestnut eyes to the clock on the wall. '12:08… better get moving.' She slung the bag around her shoulders and ran to the door. This was it, the one chance she would get to show everyone that she was more than just a Hyuuga. Hinata smiled, and this time, her smile was for real. 'Time to change, for good!' was her last thought as she jumped into her purple sandals and sprinted out to the sun-baked sidewalk.

End chapter 3… For some reason I felt like making Hinata having an encounter with Sasuke before the real mission. Consider this chapter the 'get-ready' part of a story where the main character gets all geared up for the big event, in this case the big event is the mission. The gang will be meeting up and heading out to Suna to pick up the 'Sand-Gang' in the net chapter. Oh and don't worry, from here on, I'll make longer chapters.

Ja Ne!

-Suzume-kage


	4. Leaving off on the mission!

Kairo Chapter 4

It was 1:00 pm and Hinata was on her way to the front gates. Hinata gritted her teeth ferociously as she made a beeline for the front of Konoha. After a few more minutes of non stop running she started to slow down a bit, sensing that she was almost there. The first thing that Hinata's eyes saw were the two sets of colossal leaf green doors, along with the walls of the village. As she came closer, a few figures came into her range of vision. 'That's my team.' She thought as she slowed down her speed even more. Chai, Tenten, Sakura, Ino, Rock Lee, Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba, Shikamaru and Neji were already there. Hinata smiled as an idea came to her. 'I'll sneak up on them! That'll surprise them! I can probably sneak past Neji-niisan too! He-he time to test my skills.' She smiled widely before darting to the side of the gates, all the while keeping a watch on the group, and a hawk eye on Neji. She ran to the closest Sakura tree and jumped straight onto the highest branch. She tries not to make any noises as she gripped a branch to her left, the pink leaves acted like a veil.

Neji tapped his foot on the dirt impatiently, and looked around to see if Hinata was coming.

"Where do you think Hinata is Neji?" Neji looked over, and Tenten walked towards him. She had a concerned facial expression. Chai walked over and looked at both Tenten and Neji.

"Hinata will come, it's not like her to leave us hanging here." She glanced at the sky. "Besides, it's still noon" she added.

Tenten nodded at her then looked back at Neji, who was still staring off into the distance. Sasuke was standing near on a log near by and was also looking out for Hinata. Lee was watching a squirrel tilt it's head up to look at a near by Sakura tree, as if it had spotted something. Lee ran over to it. He knelt down beside the squirrel.

"What are you looking at?" he looked up into the branches of the tree and saw a shadow-veiled figure kneeling on a branch. Lee immediately jumped into a fighting stance and positioned his open palm in front of him.

"Show yourself!" he shouted at the figure. Though Lee could only see the outline of the shadowed form, it was clearly female. There was hair jutting out in all directions from the ribbon tied pony-tail. The obi like belt tied into a bow around the stranger's waist spread out behind her back. Her head towards him and she jumped off of the branch, landing in front of Lee. The squirrel which was standing beside Lee scurried away. Lee side stepped a bit to get a better look at the figure's face, for it was still hidden in the branch's shadow.

The stranger stepped out of her hiding spot and grinned at Lee with straight white teeth. She cocked a dark eyebrow and fixed her brown eyes on his face. Lee widened his eyes and his own thick eyebrows shot up in realization.

"HINATA-HIME!" he hollered and turned to the direction where the others were standing, waving his hand around in a frantic like manner.

"HINATA HAS ARRIVED!" he shouted again. Hinata looked over and saw the rest pf the group walking towards them. Lee grabbed Hinata's gloved hands and smiled widely. The grin never left Hinata's face as she watched each of her teammate's expressions. They were all surprised at her second appearance change.

"Hinata-sama?" Neji asked softly. "Is that really you?" Hinata looked towards him and nodded her head. Sasuke was gaping at her like no tomorrow. Hinata looked at him giggled.

"What's the matter Uchiha? Don't recognize the weak one?" her grin faded as she said the last part. Sasuke blinked twice. Naruto and Kiba both did double takes. Lee who was still holding Hinata's hand gazed down into Hinata's fiery eyes. Hinata's frown became deeper as she released her hand from Lee's and stalked up to Sasuke. Sasuke watched Hinata as she pushed past Sakura who glared at her. He noted how her hips 'swished' as she walked. She was directly in front of him now, her crimson orbs burning holes into his onyx colored orbs. 'She looks as if she possesses the Sharingan…' he thought as he fixed his eyes on her face. Hinata frowned even more deeply, if that were possible and just narrowed her eyes into slits and walked past Sasuke. He followed her every move to the gates. Ino, Chai and Tenten looked at Hinata's walking form then at Sasuke who gazed after her. Sakura glared at her, and Shikamaru and Neji also looked at the two.

"Are you guys coming or what? We don't have all day! Let's go to the Sand Village already!" she turned to shout at them. "Yeah, yeah we're coming!" Chai called out ad began running up to the gate, everyone followed suit. Ino smiled and ran up to Hinata.

"Hey Hinata, are those contacts?" she asked her friend. Hinata smiled back and shook her head. "My former eyes were the fakes; these are what my eyes were like since I was born." This caught Neji' attention and he walked over to the two kunoichi. He stared at Hinata. "What do you mean they were like that since you were born? They are supposed to be like mine, you're a Hyuuga." He said in confusion, which was very rare for Neji. Hinata smiled weakly at him before saying "I'm not one hundred percent Hyuuga, Neji." Neji's eyes widened. "What do you mean?" Sasuke also heard and looked at her, expecting an explanation. Hinata shook her head for like the fourth time. "It's complicated, I'll explain on the way." She replied, eager to get going. Neji nodded and focused hi attention to the gates. Tenten was already reporting the group's departure to the ANBU standing by the door. Tenten turned to them and smiled. "Let's go!"

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Okay, that wraps up Chapter 4! A bit longer? Don't worry, I pledge to work extra hard on the next one. Sorry for updating late, my computer is so dang SLOW. Okies, see ya'll next chapter!

Suzume K Hoshi


	5. Major Specializations

Kairo Chapter 5

"W-What?! For real?!" Tenten stuttered out, brown eyes bulging out of her head. Hinata nodded. They have been walking for about a day now, they should be reaching Suna tomorrow. The sky was amber and they were getting close to the desert. Tenten's mouth popped open and she turned her head to the left to stare at Neji, asking if Hinata's secret identity is for real. Neji nodded. He knew all along, he just didn't know why Hiashi had kept something so important from her for so long. Hinata had told her about her secret and what Tsunade had said yo her.

"And Hiashi-san didn't even tell you?" Tenten asked, feeling kind of sorry for Hinata. Hinata sucked in a deep breath.

"Yeah, he thought If I knew, I'd stop focusing on my training." She shook her head before continuing.

"Like that has anything to do with it." Tenten sighed and nodded in understanding.

"It'll all be ok Hinata, you have skills that no one else has! Even I do not know a thing about the Shogi Arts! Heck, I thought all the elders stopped teaching those Card fighting styles a long time ago!" she said, trying to cheer Hinata up. Hinata smiled at her.

"Thanks." Neji smiled a bit too. He was impressed. Tenten smiled at her too and clapped her hands while running. The group was halfway to the desert. Everyone was sweating, but they still had the strength to keep moving. Sakura would glance at Sasuke now and then, only to see that he was staring at Hinata. She would 'Hmph' and look away. Naruto kept staring at her sadly. Even though Sakura and Naruto were dating, he is beginning to think that Sakura was using him for Sasuke. Poor guy. Lee and Chai were running at the front of their group. Chai's raven black hair fluttered in the breeze behind her, Lee was running right beside her. He would stare at her every now ad then. It was true, Lee had a thing for Chai. He watched as her pale yellow eyes moved from the desert scenery to him. She turned her head to him and flashed him a big smile. Lee's mouth curved into a smile. How can anyone resist that smile of hers? Ino gritted her teeth and stared at Shikamaru, frowning. He was staring at the now amber sky.

"Shikamaru! You are going to slow us down if you don't focus on moving! Come on we HAVE to get to Suna before sunset, tomorrow!" she whined. Shikamaru eyes flickered to her before lowering to the floor and not the sky. Ino sighed and looked to the back of the group. Hinata was running at top speed, she made her way past Sakura, Naruto, Kiba and Sasuke who looked at her as she passed, lust still present in his eyes. Hinata made her way passed Ino, flashing her smile before running over to Chai and Lee. Ino's mouth stretched up to her ears, in a wide smile. Chai looked over to Hinata as she ran up beside her and Rock. Chai came closer to Hinata.

"Do you think we should find a place to rest for the night?" Chai asked Hinata, worn out. Hinata looked up at the sky, which was turning dark blue and the glanced back at the group. Everyone was getting pretty tired. Hinata nodded. She slowed down a bit and motioned for everyone to slow down. Everyone slowly slowed down their pace until they were walking. Sasuke looked at Hinata, as if he wasn't watching her for majority of the trip.

"Why'd you tell us to stop?" he asked breathing heavily. Everyone else were either on there hands and knees or just panting very heavily. Hinata too drew in a deep breath.

"We have to find a place to stop for the night." She said looking around for a clearing of some sort. Sakura walked up to her sassily and narrowed her jade eyes.

"Yeah, but who put you charge?" she said icily. Hinata looked at her for a second before going back to looking for a place to set up camp.

"I'm just making sure everyone gets some rest." She said quietly. Naruto walked up from behind Sakura and grabbed her by the waist. Sakura giggled ad turned her head to give him a quick kiss.

"Oh Naruto!" she giggled, making Hinata want to vomit. Naruto started to kiss her neck and Sakura started to make sick moaning sounds. Hinata rolled her eyes and walked off. Kiba looked at the odd couple and nearly choked on the dog biscuit he was chewing. Neji looked over to the right. He saw a wide open space, with green leaved trees around the perimeter. They could set up camp there.

"Hinata, I've found a spot." He said, walking over to her and pointing to the space. Hinata looked over too and nodded.

"Ok, let's go everyone!" with that said, they started to head to the clearing. Halfway there, Kiba's usual obnoxious personality was slowly overwhelming his tired brain. He girlishly walked towards Hinata.

"Hinata… bang me…" he said huskily to her while strutting a pose which Kiba thought made himself look 'sexy'. Hinata rolled her eyes and looked away, her cheeks were crimson red. He grinned at her and walked over to Chai and Ino. He waved at them flirtatiously. They looked confused. He finally walked over to Sakura.

"Sakura…" he began. Sakura smirked and looked over to Hinata who was glaring at Kiba.

"DON'T bang me!" he said, snickering. Sakura widened her eyes and opened her mouth.

"WHY NOT? I am SO much better looking then that Hinata slut!" she yelled. This of course caught the attention of our fellow avenger, Sasuke Uchiha.

"Hinata-chan is not a slut Sakura." He said sternly. Both Hinata and Sakura went slack mouthed at the suffix 'chan' at the end of Hinata's name. Sakura stared at him with a wide open mouth and stared at him with a crushed expression.

"S-Sasuke-kun…" she whispered quietly. By now, everyone in the group was staring at them with confusion and pity expressed on their faces, Naruto had a hurt look in his eyes. Sasuke frowned and shoved his hands in his pant pockets. Hinata had turned away from the scene surveying the area with her Byakugan. Neji stood by her and did the same. Sakura's green eyes were brimming with unshed tears. Sasuke just looked at her, yes he was that heartless. Naruto's ocean orbs were glazing over as well.

"Sasuke… why don't you want me?" Sakura asked quietly, looking at the ground. Sasuke looked at her and sighed. "Sakura I really don't have time for this." He paused, looking at the sky. "Besides, we have to focus on the task at hand."

Sakura's tears were falling down her cheeks now, but she only nodded and wiped at them with the back of her hands. Sasuke turned and waked off towards the clearing. Naruto was so much more than broken by now, but he hid all his hurt under the false happiness façade. The group started after Sasuke, to the wide open area where they would camp. Kiba didn't make anymore flirtatious remarks, so the short trip was pretty quite, eve Naruto hadn't said anything yet, much to Sasuke's surprise. They walked up the small slope of the hillside and made their way to the left side of the clearing was, they would be covered by the trees. Hinata looked around. "Ok, so we all brought tents right?" she asked. Sasuke froze for a moment. 'Shoot, I forgot mine…"he thought. His hands came up to swipe back a few black bangs. 'Looks like I'll have to share…" he smirked at that thought. Everyone else nodded.

"Let's start setting up then." With that said Hinata and the others started setting up tents. Sasuke walked over to where Hinata was setting up her tent and helped her stick the wooden stakes into the ground. Hinata looked at him.

"What are you doing?" she asked, suspicious of something. He smirked and swiped at his hair again.

"I seemed to have forgot my tent… and being as nice as you always are, you wouldn't want me to freeze out here, hm?" he smirked a little bit wider. Hinata rolled her eyes.

"You want to share mine?" she asked, only trying to be nice. Sasuke smirked some more. Hinata's eyes crimson orbs locked onto his own onyx eyes before turning back to the tent.

"Fine…" she said softly. She opened the tent flap and crouched so she could fit through the door; Sasuke did the same and followed her in. Hinata set her travel bag down on the ground and took out to blankets and two pillows. She gave one of the pillows and blankets to Sasuke. He nodded his head in thanks and spread out his blanket on one side of the tent. Hinata kneeled down on her knees to do the same, when Sasuke took the blanket from her and spread it out for her, putting the pillow on the first end. She gave him a small smile. Sasuke only stared at her as she did. 'I could stare at her like this forever…' he thought. But unfortunately for him, forever wasn't long enough because Hinata had already had her head against her pillow, back facing him. He crawled over to her sleeping form and leaned over to see her face.

"Good night Hinata…" he whispered to the sleeping kunoichi. He crawled back to his own bed and lay down, falling asleep in just a few minutes.

-----

Temari huffed impatiently while tapping her foot on the marble tiles. She shifted her black eyes from the ceiling to the grandfather clock on the far end of the hall. Kankuro and Gaara were standing right beside her. Temari was wearing a black thick strapped tank top with the sand symbol marked on the back and brown cargo pants, with fishnets underneath. Kankuro was wearing a similar black muscle shirt and a grey vest. He also wore black pants and crow was strapped to his back. Gaara stood beside him wearing a red turtle neck shirt with matching pants; his gourd was propped up to the wall behind him. Temari played with the edge of her fan and yawned. Kankuro smirked.

"Tired Temari?" he teased. Temari turned to him and frowned.

"No… But I am bored…" she said, sighing. Gaara just looked at her. He had become softer and nicer after the incident with Naruto. He recently became good friends with the ninja's from Konoha. He also became really great friends with Hyuuga Hinata. They got along really well and Gaara was very eager to see her again. Hinata and Gaara only knew each other for a few ears, but that was enough time for Gaara to develop a small crush on the blue haired kunoichi. Gaara shuffled his feet and leaned a palm against the wall. Gaara also had the Shukaku removed from his body; he had to in order to become the Kazekage. 'I wonder how Hinata-chan is doing…" he thought. Now Gaara wasn't one to call people's names with a suffix, but in Hinata's case it was different. Just the thought of Hinata brought a small smile to his face, which was rare. He also wondered if she had changed too. A small sigh escaped his pale lips before he turned his head to the door. Hinata's group is supposed to arrive here in Suna before sunset, and Gaara had a feeling that he wouldn't be seeing the leaf Nin that he knew before.

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Yeah!!! Chapter 5 is in da bag! I hope that was longer to you guys! Gaara and Hinata are going to see each other in the next chapter! Do you think Sasuke will win Hinata's heart before Gaara has the chance to?! Sorry, of you wanted them to get to Suna in this chapter! I'm going to update faster, because it's the long weekend. Oh and yes, there might be a fight scene between Sakura and Hinata in the next chapter. Oh yeah and Kankuro has no face make up.

Gaara: When will I get to meet the new and improved Hinata? (He SO wants to see her new look)

Suzume-kage: You'll get to see her soon enough, Gaara.

Hinata: Grr… That Sakura really gets on my nerves! Cracks knuckles

Suzume-kage: Whoa… See ya'll next chapter!


	6. Are we there yet?

Kairo Chapter 6 (Aw yeah!)

Hinata opened her eyes sleepily. It was morning and they needed to get to Suna before sunset, tonight. Lifting her head off of her pillow she twisted her neck to look around the tent. Sasuke was still sleeping soundly. Hinata smiled a bit. 'He looks so cute when he's asleep. He almost looks…Harmless.' Hinata thought giggling to herself. She got up on her feet and smoothed down her purple kimono, pulling up the low-cut top underneath up a bit, and ruffled her ponytail. The room inside the tent was getting brighter. The ceiling was pretty high, so there was space to stand up. Hinata stood up and walked over to the door. She brought up a small, delicate looking hand and pushed the fabric flaps aside. Hinata stepped out of the tent and shifted her brown eyes to the sky. 'The sun is almost above the horizon, we have to get moving.' With that thought, she walked back into the tent and looked at Sasuke. He brought a hand up to his hair and swiped at it. Hinata's lips spread to a small smile. She slowly stalked over to Sasuke's bed and leaned over to look at his face. (Much like he did to her the night before.) She kept leaning down until she could feel his breath on her pink lips. She watched as Sasuke shifted and swiped at her with his hands in his sleep. 'What's wrong with him?' she thought as she tried to move back, eyes wide. He managed to reach out ad wrap his arms around her waist, pulling her to him. Hinata gasped but didn't blush. She stopped blushing for small things a long time ago. Sasuke just kept pulling her closer and closer to him. Hinata struggled to escape, but he had the strength of an elephant. Sasuke pulled her in more until she had fallen on top of him, her soft breasts pushed into his rock hard abs and their lips millimeters apart. Hinata's cheeks turned cherry red and she tried her best to wriggle her way out of his grasp. Sasuke snorted, opened his black eyes and stared at Hinata who was hadn't noticed his awakening. Now that she was so close to her, he could see how much more pretty she was up-close. His jet black eyes wandered down to her neck, her collar bone and then to her chest. Sasuke blushed a deep Scarlet hue and looked up at her face only to find spheres of dark red staring back at him. She was panting heavily. 'Did we just…? No we couldn't have, we still have our clothes on…' he thought, kind of disappointed. Hinata's cheeks turned a darker shade of red as she stared at him.

"Um, Sasuke?" said meekly. She really wanted some distance between them, but somewhere at the back of her heart, Hinata actually wanted this. Sasuke felt like he was living a dream or something, he really wanted this, Hinata lying on top of him. His mouth curved into a smirk ad he didn't loosen up his grip. Hinata narrowed her eyes at him.

"Let GO, Sasuke-san!" she hissed dangerously. Sasuke just smirked some more.

"And if I don't?" he whispered huskily. Hinata widened her eyes for a second; she hoped that Sasuke didn't notice. She rolled her eyes and shifted her hands from his chest to the bed underneath them, pushing herself up. Sasuke was reluctant to let her go but his arms slowly slid off. Hinata got up and off the bed. She slowly walked over to her bed and started rolling it up, Sasuke watched as she reached for her gloves after putting away her bed, slipping them up and along her slender, pale fingers. She looked at him once more, and walked out. He got up slowly and started packing up his stuff, walking out soon after.

"So if we take the long route from the north trail, we'll never make it, but if we take the south trail and go to the west path…" Neji's voice trailed off in Hinata's head. In fact, finding the fastest route to Suna was the last thing on the Shogi successors mind; her mind was wandering back to Konoha where she met a certain red headed Kazekage. 'Gaara… I winder if you still remember me, I still remember you…' she thought, looking at Neji but not quite listening to what was coming out of his mouth. Gaara's face appeared in her mind and she giggled quietly. Neji raised an eyebrow and gave her a strange look.

"What's so funny?" he asked. Hinata laughed again.

"Nothing, nothing, let's take the south trail." She said, coming to a decision. Neji smirked. "I knew you would settle on my idea." He said, the smug smirk still plastered underneath his nose. Hinata rolled her eyes and looked back at her friends.

"You guys, should we get going?" she asked loud enough for everyone to hear. Naruto jumped high into the air and pumped up a fist.

"HELL YEAH!" He shouted as loud as his high pitched voice would allow him to. Sakura frowned at Hinata but nodded, Sasuke gave her a small smile and a wink. She blushed remembering the mornings 'escapade'. But she winked her red eyes back at him; now it was his turn to blush. Sakura didn't suspect a thing. Everyone packed their stuff and headed towards the Sand Village.

It took six hours to get to Sunagakure, but they arrived before sunset. The sun was just below its highest peak in the sky, lighting the sky up a bright yellow. The group neared the gate, and Naruto started to act up.

"'Cause I ain't no hollaback-girl!" Naruto started singing loudly while running around in the stupidest way imaginable. He ran ahead and down a small slope, gaining some speed.

"Hey! We can have a race to the gates!" Naruto suggested. Hinata and Sasuke both smirked.

"YOSH! I will surely win this race!" Lee shouted joyfully. Chai smiled at him.

Everyone stood in a straight line and got into position. They all changed into to his or her own unique sprinting stances and waited for Naruto to start the race. Naruto rubbed his hands together and took in a deep breath.

"GO!" he hollered. Hinata sprinted off; Shikamaru surprisingly was hot on her tail. Lee was zipping along and ran circles around Chai, Ino and Sakura tauntingly. Tenten was running alongside Neji who was huffing heavily. Sasuke was trying to trip Naruto. Kiba and Sakura were going to head to head; their speeds were almost exactly the same. After much struggle, Kiba finally gained enough speed to pass Sakura, and eventually ran over to Hinata whom was facing off with Sasuke. Hinata turned her head to the side just in time to see Kiba run up beside her. Kiba grinned and winked at her, causing Hinata to turn pink.

"Hey Hinata… very sexy top…" he said out loud. As if on cue, Sasuke winked at Hinata again when she glanced at him. "Stop, Kiba." Hinata told him sternly, narrowing her eyes; she really wanted to win this race. Kiba only grinned wider. Indeed, he seemed to continue..

"Hey, it's not my fault that you are so smexy, smexy!" he said in a sing-song voice. Kiba provoked Hinata some more and her speed nearly tripled, and almost quadrupled. Meanwhile behind, Lee, Chai, Naruto, Tenten, Shikamaru, Ino and Neji, Sakura was making eyes at Hinata. She frowned at Hinata's running figure and reached into her shuriken pouch, pulling out six bright pink customized shuriken. Nobody was watching the scheme Sakura was performing at the back. Sakura held three shuriken in each hand and positioned her wrist for quick firing. Sakura ran ahead a bit and gave her wrist a little FLICK. Three of the shuriken were sent whizzing by Ino, Tenten and Chai's heads. They saw a flash of pink shuriken heading in Hinata's direction. All three of the girls slowly turned their heads, knowing exactly who threw those stars. They all stared at Sakura in shock and in return received a smirk form the pinkette herself. Chai whipped her head just in time to see the shuriken closing in on Hinata's back. If Hinata didn't turn around fast, or deflect the shuriken, she might get seriously injured. The rest of the group, including Sasuke finally spotted the three shuriken cutting through the afternoon air. Everyone's eyes widened and opened their mouths to alert Hinata, but just then Hinata reached into her card case and pulled out the deck of shiny red cards. She swiftly but her index finger and her thumb in the center of the cards, much like she was holding s pencil. Then she slid her thumb and finger apart, making the cards spread out like a fan. She then held up the makeshift fan to where she thought something was going to hit her. She sensed the objects coming closer and closer with each passing second. The shuriken were too close for comfort. Sakura was grinning malevolently. Hinata swung her fan forward and deflected the three pink shuriken that were thrown at her. Sakura's grin disappeared, Ino, Tenten and Chai sighed in relief, Neji widened his eyes in utter shock and Sasuke, Lee, Naruto and Kiba ran up to Hinata.

"Hinata! Are you ok? Where did all these pink shuriken come from?" Kiba asked grabbing Hinata's gloved hand. Naruto looked down; there was a shuriken by his foot. He bent over, picked it up and brought it close to his face for examination.

"These shuriken are from the customizable weapon gallery shop for sure!" he said. Hinata looked over at them, shuffling her cards into their former position. Sasuke observed her hand movements.

"Yeah, but that's in Konoha, whoever bought those shuriken must be around here somewhere." Kiba pointed out. Hinata looked over to Sakura who had a solemn expression on her face. She looked almost… disappointed? Hinata frowned at her, and Sakura started walking towards Hinata and the guys, swinging her hips sassily.

"That would be me, I threw those shuriken." Sakura said quietly, still walking towards Hinata. Hinata looked at the pinkette, confusion in her eyes.

"Sakura-san, why'd you do it?" Kiba asked Sakura, barring his canine like teeth. Sakura stared at him for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. Hinata narrowed her eyes even more, if that was possible.

"Why are yo turning on your own teammates, no one here did anything to make you feel bad, Sakura." Hinata said icily, planting a hand on her rounded hips. Sakura glared at Hinata, picking up her pace and appeared in front of Hinata's face in a matter of nano-seconds.

"You SLUT!" Sakura growled angrily, she thrust out her hands and shoved Hinata back, a little harder than she wanted to, because Hinata flew back into the air, headfirst. Everyone widened their eyes but was too stunned by Sakura's sudden outburst to do anything. Hinata back flipped just before she fell onto the sandy ground, she landed on her feet and pulled out her elemental cards. She got into her Shogi styled defense stance, one arm bent up to her head with three cards in between her fingers, her other arm bent down low in front of her waist with five cards. Feet spread out slightly. Sakura narrowed her eyes yet again and got into an offence stance of her own, and charged towards Hinata at full speed. Hinata watched Sakura coming but didn't do anything to brace herself or move and try to evade her running start; she just stood there in her new defensive pose. Sakura let out a cry and leaned in to slap Hinata in the face with the back of her hand. While Sakura swung her hand ruthlessly, Hinata caught it in between her own hands, the long rectangular cards still in between her fingers. Sakura growled lowly and tried to pull her hand back, but Hinata had it in an appendage cell. Sakura tried pulling her hand back a few more times before breathing in deeply and glared into Hinata's now almost all bloodshot orbs.

"Why are you doing this Sakura?" Hinata tried asking again. Sakura didn't answer, she just struggling to pull out her hand out of Hinata's grasp. But to no avail, she hung her head low and waited for Hinata's motor to start running again. Hinata frowned at Sakura's hair covered face.

"Sakura, why do you always want to fight me? Why can't we just get along like old times?" Hinata demanded an answer. Sakura still didn't say anything, everyone stared at the two, and it was almost as if they weren't even there. In fact, Hinata forgot all about her friends around her, she even forgot about the mission. She only wanted her friend back.

"Sakura! You can't hold a grudge against Hinata for this long over a guy!" Ino shouted out to them, Shikamaru standing beside her, observing the two jounin level kunoichi. Hinata then snapped out of the trance she was in and looked around them. Ino was waving her hands frantically; Tenten bit her lip and brought her hands up in front of her chest. Lee crying tears of 'youth', Sasuke staring at them with his hands in his pockets, Neji staring at them angrily, Naruto was staring at Sakura and Hinata's hands, and Chai's yellow eyes as wide as saucers. Time seemed to have stopped as Sakura slowly raised her head, a serious expression on her face.

"It's all because of you that…" she said quietly.

"That…" she continued, Hinata looking at her expectantly.

"THAT SASUKE-KUN DOESN'T LIKE ME!" she finally yelled out, raising her other hand and swung recklessly at Hinata's face. Hinata's eyes widened a large amount as she watched Sakura's palm fly at her. 'I have no time to protect myself!' she shouted inside her head. SMACK. Was the only thing that could be heard throughout the vast desert. Sakura had been able to land a direct hit on Hinata's pale face. Sakura's palm was pressed against Hinata's left cheek, making her head turn sideways, a bewildered expression on Hinata's face. Ino shrieked in horror, Tenten gasped, Neji widened his eyes, as did Sasuke and Shikamaru. Naruto, Kiba and Lee had shocked expressions on their faces and Chai let out a shocked 'ah'. Hinata felt pain, burning pain. But it wasn't the hard slap to her face that caused it, no, it was the hurtful mix of confusion and anger. Angry that Sakura would let a guy come in between their friendship, and confused on the guy part, who was the guy? Hinata's blue bangs covered her eyes as she brought both hands and grasped Sakura's offending arm, moving it and removing Sakura's palm from her cheek. When Sakura's hand came unbound from Hinata's face, a blotchy red mark was revealed along the side of it. Hinata slowly turned to Sakura, eyes still shadowed from view. Sakura's arm dropped harmlessly to her side, her expression was a mixture of anger, jealousy and hate. Hinata slowly looked up at Sakura while slipping a gloved hand into her card case, pulling out an ice-element card. Sakura didn't notice Hinata clutch the card in between her index finger and her middle finger and raise her hand up so that it was at the side of Sakura's face.

"Sakura… I'm sorry if you feel like I'm taking S-Sasuke-kun, a-away from you, b-but… The truth is…" Hinata trailed off, bringing her hand which was beside Sakura's head closer to Sakura's temple. Slowly pressing the card to the white skin, Hinata watched as Sakura's eyes widened. Sakura let out a cry and pulled her head away from the card. Hinata smirked at her reaction, and everyone else looked confused Sakura's teeth were chattering.

"W-What the h-heck was t-tha-that?" Sakura said through the space between her teeth. Hinata twirled the card around in her had a moment before answering matter-of-factly.

"This card has the element of ice sealed in it, it can freeze other objects by using charka." Everyone stared at the card like it was the dawn of a new millennium.

"And this is the card…" Hinata continued staring at Sakura, her red eyes flaring up once more.

"I will use to hurt you!" she added while dashing towards Sakura. Sakura frowned and got into a fighting pose, waiting for Hinata to strike her with the ice card. But instead feeling the cold, frigid ice against her skin, Sakura felt burning hot flames. Her eyes shot wide open and she quickly tried to push Hinata's card away. But it turned out, she didn't need to, Sakura looked at Hinata who was currently being restricted form was harming her any farther. Sasuke was holding onto her wrist with one hand, ad his other arm was wrapped around her waist, pulling her close to his chest. Sakura looked at Sasuke and sucked in a deep breath, she wasn't burned, but if Sasuke hadn't come any sooner, she might've been. She shot Sasuke a thankful look before walking off, but Sasuke only stared at her and rested his chin on Hinata's shoulder.

"Calm down Hinata…" he whispered to her slyly. His voice sent shivers down her spine. Sasuke turned his head a bit and buried his nose in the side of her neck, nuzzling with it.' So soft…' Hinata gasped and immediately broke free.

"Sasuke-kun!" she yelled at him, blushing. Sasuke grinned at her mischievously and walked past her towards the group.

"By the way…" he said over his shoulder. Hinata was still blushing at his touch, but she listened to him.

"Nice move…" he said to her, giving her props on giving Sakura what she deserved. Hinata smiled at him softly before following him to the group.

* * *

He-he… I fooled you guys when I said that they would get to Suna right? LOL, well they will NEXT chapter! Haha… just my way of keeping you at 'bay'. And now, back stage, Gaara just HAPPENS to see Hinata.

Gaara: Mmm… Hinata is so hot…

Hinata: Blushes Gaara-kun, do not act like Kiba!

Suzume-kage: Wow! It's not everyday Gaara calls a girl 'hot'! Hinata, I think Gaara likes you, don't you agree folks? Oh yeah ad if you want to be in the back-stage complementary at the end of every chapter, just give the word, alright? Remember to Review and stay tuned!


	7. Be Mine?

Kairo Chapter 7

"THEY SHOULD BE HERE BY NOW!" the ground shook. Temari was on yet another rampage. Kankuro tried to keep his balance, but it was quite hard to do that when you are standing on sand. They were at Suna's front gates, waiting for the arrival of the Leaf Nin. Gaara was standing beside Kankuro, gourd strapped to his back. Gaara's face morphed into a smirk, it was amusing watching his siblings at times. He couldn't exactly blame Temari for being to impatient thought; he wanted to see the Konoha Ninja again as well. Suddenly Hinata popped into his head. Her skin so pale and perfect, those small little feet, her bluish black hair… he wondered if she changed it. Part of Gaara wanted to see Naruto ad his other friends again, but most of him wanted to see the one who showed him how to love again, his true friend. Now Gaara might not know lust from bloodlust, but he knew who his friends were. Temari sighed impatiently and began pacing around. Kankuro was playing with crow, making him do weird things, like holding a teacup.

"Would you like some tea, Ms Sequatchie?" he asked crow. He made crow nod its head. Kankuro grinned. "Ok." He pretended to pour tea.

Gaara rolled his eyes, Kankuro could act really strange sometimes, especially when he was bored. Temari suddenly stopped pacing, making Kankuro and Gaara look up at her. Temari used her fan as a propeller and flew a good twelve feet into the air, which was good enough to peek at the other side of the fence. Sure enough, Temari spotted Hinata and the gang approaching the gate. She got excited and started wiggling around in the air. Kankuro and Gaara watched as she slowly landed on the ground. She stopped spinning her fan and looked at them, grinning.

"The gang has arrived!" she shouted joyfully. Kankuro smirked and walked over to the gate. "Hn." Was the only thing that escaped Gaara's lips as he followed Kankuro and Temari to open the gate. Naruto waltzed up to the door and was about to knock the knocker when the gate suddenly opened, making Naruto fall flat on his face.

"Ouch…" he mumbled his mouth full of sand. Hinata, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Tenten, Kiba, Lee, Chai, Neji and Shikamaru entered through the gates, stepping over Naruto or walking around him. Temari clapped her hands.

"Hey there!" she addressed everyone in the group. Everyone greeted her back. "Ohayo, Temari-san!" Hinata greeted her long time friend. Temari looked over to her and widened her dark eyes. She gasped and ran over to Hinata, hugging the younger girl to her chest.

"Hinata-chan! Ohayo, ohayo!" Temari greeted back, crushing Hinata to her. When Temari finally let go, Hinata was gasping for breath, she put a hand on her arm and watched as Temari bent down low to be eye level with her.

"Hinata! You have different eyes!" Hinata smiled and nodded. "I'll explain the details later." Temari smiled and nodded. "Anyhow, you look great! You have a really nice figure!" she gushed on. Hinata blushed and watched Temari walk off to meet the others. Gaara welcomed everyone with a 'hello' or a hand shake. Hinata watched as he shook hands with Naruto and gave him a small friendly hug. She watched as greeted Neji and Sasuke and started walking towards her. 'He's coming this way!' Hinata thought as she clasped her hands behind her back and shuffle her foot, trying her best not to fidget with her fingers like she used to do. Gaara stopped in front of her, looking her up and down. 'She looks really nice…' Gaara thought, he never so Hinata wear something so curve-fitting. His eyes lingered on her midsection and he blushed a bit. "She looks great… so curvy…' He moved a little closer to her.

"Hinata, it's great to see you again. You have grown." He said the blush still present on his cheeks. Hinata blushed a bit herself and nodded.

"Good to see you again Gaara! You have grown too!" she complimented him. Gaara looked really good too, his hair was down to the end of his neck at the back, and he had nice, lean muscles. Hinata observed him some more and he observed her. The shy little girl he used to know had turned into a very hot and a gorgeous young woman of seventeen. Just a year younger than himself. Gaara also noticed her new outfit. It suited her really well. A little TOO well. Something stirred from inside of him. He was feeling some kind of emotion he had never felt before. Taking his eyes off of Hinata's tempting body, he gazed into her Crimson-brown orbs. He stared deep into her eyes, he saw strength and determination.

"Hinata… you're eyes are so different…" he said moving closer, until there was barely a foot-distance separating them. Hinata stared into his own Aquamarine spheres. "Yeah…It's a long story, but I'll make sure to tell you, why do you not like them Gaara-kun?" she asked, she sounded a bit disappointed. He held her hand sealed behind a shield of purple, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"No, I love them …" his deep voice whispered to her huskily. She loved hearing his voice. She wrapped her hands around his neck, giving him a hug. Gaara didn't flinch or pull away; he wrapped his arms around her waist in the same hugging gesture. Gaara rested his chin on Hinata's shoulder, his fingers playing with the bow of her obi. They pulled away ad Hinata smiled softly.

"Let's go." Gaara led her over to the Kazekage tower, the rest of the group followed, a very jealous Sasuke following close behind. He had seen them hug, and he didn't like it one bit. 'It's only the beginning; I still have plenty of time to make her want me.' He thought shoving his hands in his pockets, while keeping a distance from Sakura who magically appeared at his side every two seconds. Chai was chatting with Temari and Ino. Tenten laughed at a joke Kankuro told her and Neji, although Neji didn't laugh, he gave Kankuro his props. But out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Gaara walking with Hinata and smirked. 'I wonder who'll end up with Hinata…' Neji thought looking over at the Uchiha than at Sabaku no Gaara. 'Either way, they better not hurt her.'

Gaara led Hinata to her room, which was surprisingly right next to his. AS they walked through the long corridors and stairwells, Hinata noticed that there were pictures of former Kazekage's. She scanned the canvases, as her and Gaara passed by. They went up another flight of stairs, before stopping at a tall pine wood door. Gaara turned to Hinata. "This will be your room." He said in that deep voice she had come to love. Hinata nodded and smiled softly. Gaara lifted up one corner of his mouth, smirking. as a response. Hinata stepped a bit closer, so did he. Hinata leaned in and kissed Gaara's cheek, making him go pink. Hinata stepped back ad giggled at his dazed expression. But Gaara was in demon heaven, if there was a such thing. Hinata kissing him, even if it was only a friendly kiss on the cheek, to Gaara it was like reliving that lovely moment when Shukaku was being removed from his body. Gaara wasn't too fond of the 'Incarnation of Sand.'. Snapping out of his daze, he watched as Hinata turned the metal door knob and pushed the door open. Hinata turned to face him.

"Good night, Gaara-kun." She stepped into the room and began closing the door. Gaara stuck his foot out, stopping the door from closing completely. Hinata looked down at his foot and then back at his face, questionably. Gaara held the door open with his hand ad took a step in the room. He and Hinata were centimeters apart; Hinata could feel his hot breath against the foreside of her collarbone and her neck. Hinata looked up at his face once again only to be held captive by his eyes. Gaara slowly came closer and closer. So close, that Hinata could feel his chest brush against hers. He came even closer and bowed his head down so that he was looking down at her. Gaara was a good head taller than Hinata, so he had to crane his neck to look into the crimson depths of her eyes. Slowly he dipped his head further and. Hinata seemed to catch on, because she slowly lifted her head higher to meet his mouth in a passionate kiss.

Electrifying.

Five syllables say it all. The kiss was just a pleasant feeling of lips brushing against each other, in a loving way. After five minutes they pulled away. Hinata's cheeks were pink and she was panting lightly. Gaara too, was panting, but he actually smiled down at the petite kunoichi. Giving her a hug, which she gladly returned, Gaara began to walk to his own sleeping chamber. "Goodnight." He whispered to her gently before walking away, a small smile tugging at his lips. Hinata stood there for a good three minuets before sapping out of her daze, and went inside to get ready for a well deserved rest.

Unknown to Hinata and surprisingly Gaara, Sasuke was walking by and happened to see their little 'friendship kisses'. He had just come back inside from training in the yard, and happened to walk down the main corridor to catch sight of the last part of Gaara and Hinata's reunion. And boy, Sasuke was pissed. He has to make her his. And fast. He had to act before Gaara ad Hinata decide to 'get together'.

* * *

Suzume-kage: Oh… Sasuke is jealous! 

Sasuke: No! I am supposed to proclaiming my love to Hinata!

Gaara: Too bad. I got to hot-Hinata-hime first.

Hinata: Would you two come off it! This story still has ways to go… this can go either way you know that?

Gaara: Ok, Hina-hime.

Sasuke: Ok, Hina-hime!

Suzume-kage: Make sure you guys review soon!


	8. Not Yet!

Kairo Chapter 8

"_Arigatou to kimi ni iwareru to nandaka setsunai  
sayonara no ato no tokenu mahou awaku horonigai  
The flavor of life_

_tomodachi demo koibito demo nai chuukan chiten de  
shuukaku no hi wo yumemiteru aoi furu-tsu  
ato ippo ga fumidasenai sei de  
jirettai no nan notte? baby_

_arigatou to kimi ni iwareru to nandaka setsunai  
sayounara no ato no tokenu mahou awaku horonigai  
The flavor of life_

_amai dake no sasoi monku ajike no nai doku  
sonna mono ni wa kyoumi wa sosorarenai  
omoitoori ni ikanai toki datte  
jinsei suteta mon janai tte_

_doushita no? to kyuu ni kikareru to "uun. nandemo nai"  
sayounara no ato ni kieru egao watashi rashikunai  
sinjitai to negaeba negau hodo nandaka setsunai  
"aishiteru yo" yori mo "daisuki" no hou ga kimi rashii janai?  
The flavor of life_

_wasurekakete ita hito no omoi wo totsuzen omoidasu koro  
furitsumoru yuki no shirosa wo omou to sunao ni yorokobitai yo_

_daiyamondo yorimo yawarakakute atatakana mirai  
teni shitai yo kagiri aru jikan wo kimi to sugoshitai  
"arigatou" to kimi ni iwareru to nandaka setsunai  
sayounara no ato no tokenu mahou awaku horonigai  
The flavor of life…"_

Gaara stared in awe at Hinata as she sang the sweet song. She looked so beautiful in her aqua blue, mid-thigh length nightdress, her shoulder length hair falling in a straight and glossy river dow the back of her neck. They were in the Kazekage building, a cobalt blue room Hinata was currently staying in. Hinata was sitting on the window sill, the puffy hem of her dress fit nicely around her pale, lean looking legs. She was staring at a near by papaya tree, there was a squirrel running up it. Gaara slowly walked over to her, captivated by her calming aura. Hinata noticed him coming, for she looked over to him and gave him the sweetest, most warming smile he had ever seen. Gaara walked silently to her side, looking at her face up close. Hinata's spheres of brown and red locked on with Gaara's aquamarine ones, and they studied each other for a few moments. Gaara noticed the way the front two strands of her hair would flow in the air like rolling waves of the ocean as the wind brushed through them, the way her even, slightly pointed bangs swung back and forth, and the way her pale lips would curve to form a smile or form shapes that seemed to mouth his name. Gaara remembered the kiss they shared last night. Oh it was wonderful, he could still feel the tiny electrical sparks that flew off of the whole 'moment'. He could tell that Hinata could feel them too.

"Good morning, Gaara-kun." Hinata spoke slowly and softly. Gaara, still staring at her, nodded his head.

"Good morning Hinata-chan." He greeted, his voice was relatively low, but that made it all the more mysterious and seductive. Hinata noticed how his low, deep voice tugged at strings in her heart. She lifted a had up and dragged her long fingers through her slighlty tangled blue hair. Gaara's own hair was a bit messy also, after all he just woke up. He then remembered, while watching Hinata swiping at her hair, that she said that she'd tell him how her eyes chaged from lilac, to chestnut and crimson.

"Why are you're eyes a different color than before?" Gaara asked gruffly, but clearly.

Hinata gave him a small smile, that made Gaara breath in deeply.

"Actually, my eyes were always a brownish red color, but I I didn't notice because I always wore contacts." She said, twirling a lock of azure hair inbetween her fingers.

Gaara cocked his head to the side. Not getting it at all.

"You did't know that you had contact lenses on?" he asked, confused on how she didn't know.

Hinata shook her head stiffly, still playing with her hair. Gaara reached out and played with the soft tresses with his own fingers. Hinata blushed, enjoying the feeling.

"No, they must have put them on me when I was a child, probably when I was sleeping or something like that."

Gaara stared at her, his confusion growing within him once more.

"They?" His low voice croaked in question. Hinata nodded her head frustatingly.

"I should've said 'he', my dad must've made me wear these because he didn't want me to know that I was different. It felt so weird when Tsuade first told me that I had Shogi blood-"

"Shogi…Blood?" Gaara repeated slowly. Hinata looked at him and nodded. "What is a Shogi?"

Hinata's breath hitched in her throat. "W-Well, Shogi's were Ninja's who used cards with elemental magic sealed inside of them. There are ninety six cards in a deck, like mine." Hinata said walking over to the dresser beside the king sized bed. Gaara turned and watched Hinata pick up a case from ontop of the wooden surface. He eyed the red case with a gold dragon designs on the lid, the base was lined with gold sequence. It was a long rectangular box, a good six inches. Gaara nodded his head in understanding of the concept and watched Hinata stride back over to him.

"So… you no longer use the gentle fist style?" his sensual voice vibrated in Hinata's ears. She nodded her head, trying to forget that husky tone.

"I still use, it, but I have to preform it in cotrast with the card arts, it's quite difficult." Gaara nodded again.

"I'd like to see that." Hinata looked at the yellow tiled floor, it seemed very interesting all of the sudden. Memories of what happened last night flooded Hinata's head. She wondered if Gaara was thinking about it too. A stray lock of blue hair fell in front of Hinata face. She reached out with her hand to push it back. But again, as soon as she reached, a hand with a slightly darker skin tone was brought up, and pushed back the strand of hair behind her ear. Hinata looked up, a bit surprised, but it seemed to increase as she gazed into those aquamarine eyes of his. And judging by the emotions those eyes were sporting, Gaara clearly remembered last night's episode as well. Hinata felt heat rise to her cheeks, but begged herself not to blush or ruin the moment. Slowly, Gaara's hand left her hair and came down to touch her pale skinned-chin, tilting it up at the same leisurely pace. Gaara's face came closer and closer with each passing second. Hinata's exitement grew higher and higher. In the corner, behind a wall, Sharingan activated, Sasuke was getting angrier and angrier. 'I have to do something to stop them and fast! I can't lose Hinata to that…that… Fiend!' he thought, fuming. Just then Kiba walked up the steps and stepped into the hallway, spotting Hinata and Gaara. They weren't aware of his presence but he saw how relatively close they were standing and the position they were in. Kiba cleared his throat. Gaara and Hinata stopped inching closer and slowly turned their heads to look at the grinning brunette.

"Well, isn't this a Kodiak moment?" Kiba chuckled. Hinata blushed and Gaara widened his eyes, they both pulled away from each other. Sasuke breathed a sigh of releif and stalked off to the main kitchen, where everyone were supposed to meet for breakfast. He walked through the hall where his three teammates were currently in. Shooting Gaara a deadly glare, he walked past Hiata and Kiba, brushing his hip against Hinata's as he passed. Kiba stared after him.

"What's eaten him?" he asked , scratching the back of his hooded head.

"Hinata you should get ready and meet us downstairs, we have to eat and discuss a few details on the mission." He told Hinata, eyeing the couple in a funny way. Kiba likes Hinata, in both a sisterly way and a more-than-just-a-friend look, but he knows how much she cares for Naruto. But now, since Naruto is with Sakura, it looks like Hinata might be paired with the Kazekage, formally known as Gaara. Hinata shuffled her feet in humiliation. "Alright, see you downstairs, Kiba-kun, Gaara kun…" she bowed and retreated to her bed chamber. Kiba and Gaara watched as she did so. When Hinata disappeared into her room after a few seconds, Kiba turned to Gaara and stared at him hard, like he was examining a flea in Akamaru's fur.

"Treat her well, and don't break her heart. If you hurt her I'll-

"I will not hurt her, she and I have been 'good friends' a very long time." Gaara cut Kiba short, narrowing his eyes at the fact that the Inuzuka thought that he would actually try to hurt Hinata. Kiba barred his teeth viciously, giving him the appearance of a beast for a breif moment before calming down and giving a bow, walking down the steps. Gaara watched Kiba's retreating figure, and soon started after him, giving Hinata's room one last glance.

'The Uchiha had his Sharingan activated.' Gaara remembered as he drifted down the crimson carpeted stair case.

Hinata straightened out her obi and decided not to tie her hair, it rested on her shoulders, her bangs nicely framing her face. She made her way to the end of the stair case, reaching the main floor. Hinata walked through a few halls before reaching the main kitchen. She stepped into the wide open room, filled with tables and kitchen necessities. The gang was eating breakfast which consisted of meat, breakfast cereal, eggs and toast. Naruto and Kiba were pigging out on the bacon and eggs, Chai and Tenten watching in disgust as the egg yolk splaterd into the boy's mouths. Upon detecting Hinata's entry, Chai, Ino, Tenten, Temari grinned at their card user friend. Sakura gave her a small wave and a smile, and looked over at Sasuke for a split second. Lee grinned up at her through a mouth full of toast, Naruto burped out his greeting and Sasuke gave her a small but playful smile. Gaara stared at her, his eyes held a mix of emotions, love being one of them. He gave her a small quirk of his lips, eyeing her look. Hinata walked further into the room, seating herself next to Naruto who was stuffing some eggs into his seemingly endless mouth. Tenten wiped the toast crumbs off of her mouth with a napkin gingerly, beofre getting up from her seat of the long red table.

"So, is everyone ready for the mission? Or are me and Neji in this alone?" she joked on the last part, winking at Neji, who in return smirked at his bun-bun girl. Everyone in the room nodded their heads. Kankuro, who was busy fiddling around with Crow, raised his hand as if talking to a sensei. Tenten nodded towards him.

"What, Kankuro?" Kankuro put his hand back down and sighed heavily. "Do you have any idea on how to go against something with the element of ice?" Tenten looked at the puppet-user, trying to figure out how to answer his question. "What?" she asked, not comprehending the question properly. Kankuro sighed deeply again and looked to Temari who nodded at him, urging him to say more.

"What I mean is, we are going to be fighting a _demon_." He added emphasis to the word demon. "And it's and Ice demon too. What I was trying to ask was, do you have some kind of plan for action that we can use to defeat this thing?" he asked, trying to make his earlier question more clear to comorehend. Tenten put a finger to her pointed chin. She stayed like that for a while, everyone including Hinata and Gaara eyeing her.

"Well it's missions like these, where anything can happen." Her expression sudenly turned dark, and her chocolate brown eyes seemed to cloud up as she looked over at her friends. "Not all of us will make it, but it take a miracle for all of us to survive during this mission. We cannot afford to lose… It specifically stated in the mission papers, that if we don't succeed in driving this demon out of the ice village soon, the demon will reak havoc in not only the ice village, but the villages near by as well." Tenten stated, placing her hands on her hips. Kiba looked at her, suddenly interested on the demon topic.

"I heard it's not in any form of an animal, but in the shape of a female human being." He said, proud of himself for contributing some info. Tenten nodded, tapping her foot to the ceramic kitchen tiles.

"It's all true, it doesn't look like the Kyuubi or anything like the Shukaku…" Gaara and Naruto cringed ever so slightly at the mentioning of their demons. Ino was staring at the half eaten apple in her hand like it had rotted.

"Why is the demon here? What does it want? Could it be… SEARCHING FOR SOMEONE?" Ino screamed the last part out to scare everyone. Naruto and Kiba screamed like the little girls they were, everyone else exept Gaara flinched a bit.

"Ino, that was not called for." Chai said, rubbing her temples with her first two fingers. Ino grinned, and Chai glared back at her. Everyone was done eating, with the exeption of Naruto whos was happily nibbling on a piece of buttered toast. Everyone got up from their seats from the table and began to walk out of the kitchen. As Hinata walked out of the large kitchen, she felt a tug at the hem of her short kimono. Turning to see who wanted her attention, her eyes looked directly into Sasuke's coal black ones. Hinata was once again held captive, but by jet black eyes and not greenish-blue ones. She watched one corner of his mouth quirk up, he was smirking. Hinata gulped in a deep breath and stared deep into his eyes. Thank goodness that Sakura wasn't anywhere near by, she would have flipped her wig. Sasuke lowered his face so that he was eye-level with her ear. He blew hot air on it playfully, sending a course of shivers down her spine. Hinata closed her eyes, but her face was still facing him. Sasuke returned back to his previous position and leaned in close enough so there noses touch. He nuzzled his nose with her own gently, resting his forhead against hers.

"Eariler yesterday…" his lower than low voice spoke. Hinata nodded softly, her eyes were still close. Sasuke lifted up the other corner of his mouth, forming a small smile. His plan of seduction was working.

"Sakura tried to hurt you…" his voice got serious. "But I eon't let her do that ever again… at least… not let her hurt you, Hinata-chan." His smile morphed into a smirk as he watched her eyes snap open, staring at him in shock and embarassment. Hinata hastily broke out of his little 'embrace' and made a break for it out the door, the others might be worried. Sasuke stared after her. 'She may not be mine yet… but I'm not letting her fall in the hands of that Sabaku-baka…' his eyes switched to Sharingan mode for one breif moment, with a murderous intent.

Sure enough, the gang was waiting for them outside the Kazekage building, Sakura was looking around for Sasuke. She saw Hinata coming out of the bulding and behind her- WAIT! Sasuke was coming out after her! What could they have been doing all alone in there, when the rest of them were out here? She narrowed her emerald orbs into a slit and glared at Hinata. 'And you said we'd try to get along…' she thought sadly. 'No, you just go and stab me in the back…' She watched as Hinata ran towards them with a small, shy smile. Sasuke strolling behind her with his usual bored expression. Her eyes shined with new found determination. 'If Sasuke-kun doesn't like me, then I'll just have to make him like me!' With that vow sealed in her mind, Sakura followed Temari and Tenten to the gates.

Gaara watched Hinata run to them, she looked like an angel. For one moment, Gaara smiled and pretended that wings sprouted from Hinata's back and flapped with every step she took. But his smile soon turned into a frown as he saw the Uchiha coming out after her. 'What did he do with her?' was the first thought that crossed his mind. Gaara had grown to be slightly possessive when it came to Hinata. The way his heart would beat two times faster than normal, the hitching sound that would escape his lips when his breath was caught as he would lay his eyes on her petite form. He closed his eyes for a breif moment and breathed in air through his nostrils. He opened them, only to see Hinata running towards him, a big grin on her cute face. He couldn't help but give her a small smile in return. She finally ran up to him, and wrapped her arms around his, in a hugging gesture which Gaara returned.

"Come on!" Hinata said, grinning even more. He could only nodd as he watched her drag him along with the others to the gate. Sasuke trailing not too far behind, a frown marking his handsome features.

* * *

The gang has officially left Sunagakure! How far will Sasuke go to claim Hinata for himself? Do you think they can complete this mission without losing lives? Do you think Hinata-chan will live? Find out on the next chapter! Thank you Draonheart0000 for requesting the song 'Flavor of Life' also by Utada Hikaru!

Gaara: If Hinata dies, I will have no reason to continue living.

Hinata: Gaara-kun…

Gaara and Hinata stare into each other's eyes

Sasuke: UGH! Kage-san, make the next chapter, so these two will have a distraction…

Suzume-kage: Will do, will do…


	9. Frozen Fantasy

Suzume-kage: For some reason, my writing skills have been slipping, and my pride isn't exactly the size of Mt. Fuji. I'm not complaining, I'm just running out of fluff ideas, so if you have any suggestions please tell me. I'm now making this a Crossover between Naruto and Tales of Symphonia (Some of you might be familiar with it) I think it would be an interesting experience for our lovely little Shinobi from the world of Naruto.

Lloyd: So… we have to team up with the people from Narowtow?

Suzume-kage: That's 'Naru-to' Lloyd, and yeah, you, Collet, Raine, Genis, Kratos and Zelos will be included in the story. (Possible Mithos appearances.)

Lloyd: That Sakura girl really catches my attention… hmmm…

Zelos: Ahh… Hinata… My cool, intellectual beauty…

* * *

Kairo Chapter 9

It was dawn, and the team has been running since they left camp earlier in the morning. Sakura had even talked with Hinata quietly; Sasuke was there to hear what the pink-haired girl had to say. It almost got violent because Sakura had confessed her feelings to Sasuke right in front of everybody, including Hinata and Naruto. Naruto had thought that he and Sakura were together, and Hinata had developed a soft side for the Uchiha. But as predicted, he turned Sakura down, but not in a harsh way. He just told her that he didn't quite feel the same way, and that he only thought of her like a friend. Sakura had accepted his rejection and realized how much she loved Naruto, much to Naruto's happiness. Naruto was so happy he started to cry, Gaara only smiled a bit, he was glad that Naruto didn't get his heart broken. In the end, everybody won…

'So why am I not happier?' Hinata thought as she tried to maintain her speed to keep up with the others.

It seemed that everything was working out for everyone else, but not for her. Her feelings are still a wreck, and her hormones were just starting to gear up. Sasuke was in love with her, and she kind of like him back. But Gaara is also in love with her, and he was very important to her. She was stuck in a void, it seemed. Just then, Gaara slid by her on his sand.

"Are you okay, Hinata-chan?" he asked his observant eyes were tinted with concern. Hinata looked over at him for a moment but quickly turned away.

"I'm fine, Gaara-kun." She stated quickly. Almost too quickly, because Gaara immediately got suspicious.

He stared at Hinata hard. "Are you sure about that?" She nodded her head and stared at the path ahead of them. The sky was getting lighter with each passing hour.

Hinata sighed deeply, her breath turned into a visible gas as her warm breath hit the cold air. "Look, Gaara-kun, I just don't feel like talking right now, but I promise I'll tell you when I'm ready." She said, giving Gaara one of her vibrant smiles, only a smaller version. Gaara nodded. His heart thumped twice as fast when he saw her smile. They both turned back to the road. The Ice nation was only six hours away.

Meanwhile, at the back, the female Taijutsu specialist was having a hard time keeping up. Chai skidded to a stop, her back hunched over. Her breath came in short ragged gasps, they didn't seem like breaths at all. Her yellow eyes were becoming disoriented, and her feet started throbbing like mad. Chai coughed and sputtered loudly. Everybody heard the sputtering and turned to the source; Lee widened his eyes in shock and rotated to run over to his beloved friend.

"Chai! The beautiful Chinese lotus flower! Do you need my assistance?" Lee asked, joyfully putting his hand on Chai's broad shoulders. Chai coughed some more, looking up at Lee's caring expression, she smiled and nodded. "Please…" she croaked.

"Thanks, Lee-kun…" she whispered. Everybody watched as Lee turned his back to Chai and crouched down a bit, signaling for her to climb onto his back. She straightened up and slowly climbed onto Lee, wrapping her legs around his waist. Lee placed his forearms under her legs, securing her to his back. He ran back to the team with a big smile on his face, Chai smiled gently too. Neji smiled back at them, Tenten latched onto his arm and grinned. Everybody continued their pace towards the Ice Country. Sakura, Ino and Hinata were running alongside each other, chatting quietly. Sakura looked at Lee and Chai.

"You know, if I wasn't into a guy who had absolutely no interest in me, I would've had a crush on Lee, or maybe Naruto…" Hinata and Ino smiled at their friend.

"Yeah, but now you have Naruto, believe it or not, you two were so meant to be, Sakura." Ino perked up. Hinata smirked a very Sasuke like smirk.

"You mean like you and Shikamaru-kun, Ino?" Ino blushed and punched Hinata in the shoulder Sakura smiled and sighed dreamily.

"I wonder if there are great places to go on dates." Sakura said, putting a finger to her chin. Ino nodded, stars twinkling in her sapphire eyes.

"I wonder if Shikamaru would be interested…" Ino added thoughtfully, breaking into a thinking pose of her own. Hinata scoffed, leering at her friends.

"I don't think we're going to the Ice nation to sight-see." Hinata told them, her voice lowering. Sakura and Ino looked over at her, surprised. "Hinata, loosen up!" Ino shouted, punching Hinata in the shoulder again. Sakura waggled her thin eyebrows at the bluenette.

"So Hinata, thinking of getting together with Gaara?" her and Ino snickered teasingly. Hinata turned pink, she was thinking of Gaara at the exact moment Sakura mentioned him. 'Do I like Gaara-kun? Well we did kiss. But it was just between friends… Ok, really good friends…' she argued with herself. Tenten and Neji ran up beside them.

"We are almost there!" Tenten shouted gleefully. Sometimes, she was as happy as Lee. Neji nodded and scanned his sharp eyes throughout the group, and the area surrounding them. "

Everyone, be prepared. I sense a disturbance." As if on cue, Hinata tapped into her Hyuuga bloodline traits. "Me too, it's pretty close, so stay focused just in case." Gaara slid over to her again, staring at Hinata just like before.

"Who are they?" Gaara asked, his voice alluring. Hinata gulped before meeting his gaze. "I'm not sure." She answered; her voice was just a solemn. Kiba ran up soon after.

"I smell something! The scent is very strange, nothing like I've ever experienced before!" He exclaimed. Hinata rolled her eyes at her former teammate.

"Oh please, you'd be glad that you're useful for something…" she whispered. But Kiba's sensitive ears heard it, and he pouted at her. "What's that supposed to mean? That I'm not useful? Seriously Hinata, is you're chest the only part of you-"Hinata cut him off before he could finish.

"My…WHAT!" She shouted so loud, birds on near by trees flew away, her eyes full of rage. By now, everyone was staring. Kankuro gave Kiba a thumbs-up and Temari tried to contain her laughter, Gaara stared at the two, smirking in amusement. Naruto was grinning pervertedly, Sasuke winked, and smirked yet again, and Lee stared wide-eyed at the scene he and Chai were witnessing. Tenten buried her face in Neji's shoulder, trying not to laugh. Sakura and Ino were biting their lips, they were definitely trying to suppress a giggle. Shikamaru gave Kiba a lop-sided grin, and Neji was fuming with anger and outrage. And yet Hinata stood there defiantly, staring at Kiba himself was breathing in fast breaths, his chest heaving from underneath his black hoodie. He looked as if someone just killed Akamaru.

"Err… Hinata-chan… I didn't mean that…" Kiba started, but he just stopped talking when Hinata gave him the coldest, meanest glare he had ever received. "I'm just going to…to…" Hinata rolled her eyes, Neji walked up to Kiba. Kiba looked up at the angry Byakugan eyes and grinned innocently.

"Why hello there sir, how do you do?" Kiba asked, grabbing a cane and a top hat. Neji lifted his hand and struck Kiba across the face hard. So hard, Kiba crumbled to the floor. Neji stood there, staring down at Kiba.

"Keep you're dirty thoughts to yourself, Inuzuka." With that said, he walked back to where the others were standing, like mannequins in a display case. Kiba got up slowly, using his new-found cane and holding his left cheek, where Neji hit him with a chakra infused palm. He made a grunting noise and murmured something about 'me and my big, rather hot mouth.' Hinata turned to face everyone, but there was something terribly wrong with the picture, everyone except Gaara, Sasuke, Shikamaru and Neji was trying to suppress something. Hinata narrowed her eyes at everyone.

"What?!" she breathed, annoyed. Out of nowhere, Naruto burped, real loud and slow. That of course, set off a chain reaction. Temari's eyes widened, she gasped out laughing.

"Wahahahaha!" Ino and Sakura bowed their heads and broke into a fit of giggles. Tenten was punching Neji's shoulder in laughter. Chai laughed so hard, it sounded like she was crying. Sasuke and Gaara started chuckling; Lee was pounding the floor with a bright red face. Almost everyone was blushing though, even Neji. Kiba's random yet sexist comment was perverted, but the consequence was ridiculously funny.When everybody settled down, they resumed their journey to the village hidden in the Ice crystals. They must be getting close, because the temperature was dropping and the sky was ashen white. Snowflakes started to drift down gently, landing on Hinata nose. She giggled as it dissolved into her skin. She turned to see if everyone else had noticed it was snowing and to her surprise, she saw Sasuke opening his mouth wide while looking up at the sky, three or four snowflakes falling in. Sasuke closed his eyes, as if enjoying the taste of cold precipitation. He closed his mouth and resumed looking to the path, locking gazes with Hinata as he did so. He smirked, it wasn't a 'gotcha' smirk, it was one of those smirks that his fan girls would swoon over. Hinata smiled a bit, and looked to Gaara. He was examining a snowflake that had landed on the sleeve of his burgundy shirt. It was only natural that he'd be curious; he did come from a country where even rain is not even possible. She saw Sakura latching onto Naruto's arm; he kissed the top of her pink haired head. Turning to her left, she saw Shikamaru wrap his arm around Ino's waist, and Neji wrapped his arm around Tenten's exposed shoulders, she was shivering a bit. She watched as Neji leaned in and kissed Tenten's cheek. Kiba stretched out his arms and folded them behind his neck, leaning his head against them. He was still grinning; he was replaying the gig he managed to pull off earlier. Hinata walked over to Gaara, whom was examining the flake of snow on his sleeve.

"You, know that no snow flake is like another." She said, looking at the snowflake as well. It was shaped like a pentagon, with six forks of ice lining the middle.

Gaara looked at her, amazed. "I come from a place were water evaporates, Hinata-chan" Hinata nodded and smiled gently.

"Beautiful isn't it?" she gushed.

"Hn." But Gaara wasn't looking at the snowflake, he was looking at her. They resumed walking. Hinata took out the mission info scroll from her backpack, and unrolled a bit of it.

"The scroll states that we have to save Ice country, from a demon's threat, but I don't know what a demo would want from a place." Hinata noted on the fact that they were going to the Ice village to protect it from a demonic being. Sasuke walked up and nodded. Looking over her shoulder he also read some of the information.

"It also states that we would not need to seek it out, it comes to the frozen lake just south of the village every three days." He looked at Hinata, his facial expression as impassive as ever. Hinata nodded her head and glanced up at the white sky. 'Looks as if the color has been sucked right out of it.' She thought, observing a flock of birds flying swiftly in a V formation, they were migrating, winter had officially hit the Ice Country. Hinata smiled and took in some cold air through her nostrils. This was the life. Just then, she heard some rustling noises, like someone was trudging through the snow behind her. Hinata was at the back of the group, and was trailing them from a good five meters. The others couldn't hear the trudging noises. Hinata head the noises coming closer and closer. Hinata turned around, sensing a disturbance in the area. 'Whatever this is, it's masking its chakra quite well!' she thought desperately whipping her head from one direction to the next. 'Why can't I see-' an arm snaked around Hinata's waist pulling her in, in a surprisingly warm embrace of some sort. Hinata looked up, her hand reaching for a kunai, and her mouth opening wide.

"Help! Sakura! Ino! Tenten? Anyone!!!" she yelled, trying to slash at the offenders head with her kunai. The figure wore a hood, and a long black cloak with strange red swirly patterns. The cloaked figure grabbed hold of Hinata's wrist, promptly disabling her spear at his head. Hinata's eyes grew wide, she looked back at the group, everyone was running to her. "Hinata!" almost everyone shouted at once. Sasuke and Gaara got there first, Sasuke snapped out a few shuriken, and a kunai. He positioned his arm for throwing the shuriken, but stopped in mid-throw. Coal black eyes widened. That hooded cloak, with the red swirls, it looked like…

* * *

And, I'm sure you can figure out this cliff hanger easily. I don't even think you need any hints. See you all later… 

Gaara: YOU! If I EVER catch you peeking at MY Hinata-hime, it's downtown for you!

Zelos: Bah, what are you going to do… you eyebrow-less… Uhh….

Gaara: YOU IDIOT!!!! sand bursting out of gourd

Suzume-kage: Review to help save Zelos... At least until Sasuke gets here...

Kiba: Gaara and Sasuke jumped this guy with girlishly long hair! Eww he even wears pink!!!

Sakura: Just happens to walk by What's wrong with pink? Oooh! A hot guy with red hair!

Kiba: Uhhh...Everything...?

Sakura: Hmph...


	10. Ecount with the Enemy

Kairo Chapter 10

Suzume-kage: Let's just start this chapter with a disclaimer, just so you guys don't sue me… And guess what? I'm too lazy to state it, I'll let these guys do it for me… (Motions over to Naruto and Lloyd)

Naruto: Right… Suzume doesn't own anything but the twisted plot itself…

Lloyd: All Naruto characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto; all Tales of Symphonia characters are owned by Namco's Tales Inc. Hope you enjoy this next twisted chapter!

* * *

An Akatsuki member! Sasuke recognized the cloak's patterns. Naruto, Kankuro, Temari and the rest of the team were trying their hardest to free Hinata. Slashing at the Akatsuki with all their strength, throwing shuriken when they sensed openings, they did all they could to hurt the hooded figure. Sasuke was frozen on the spot. His widened black eyes watched as the figure struggled, trying to hold Hinata, and block all of the team's attacks. Hinata was gripping onto the kunai tightly, while trying to reach into her card case, which was strapped to her waist. He saw Hinata pull out a bright red card. Hinata carefully brought the hand with the kunai up to her mouth. Bringing her thumb up, she bit it so that she would bleed. Sasuke watched the vile red liquid ooze out from the bite marks. Hinata brought up the hand with the card, and dragged her bloody thumb across the length of the rectangular card. Sasuke observed the card glow, and Hinata performing single handed signs. She was transferring some of her chakra to the card, to activate the effect of her jutsu.

"Fire Element: Flame Seal!" Hinata yelled out loudly, throwing the fire imbued card at her attackers head. Sasuke watched in amazement as the spinning card made contact with the offender's hood. The black material burnt away, revealing raven black hair, a pale face with red eyes with long dark markings running down to the base of the nose. Sasuke's eyes widened once more. 'Brother!?' he thought. Sasuke watched as Itachi's red Sharingan eyes shifted from, the kunoichi in his arms to him. They narrowed a bit and a smirk came to Itachi's pale lips. Sasuke glared at him, fists clenched, teeth perched.

"Itachi…" he grumbled, clenching his fists tighter.

"Little brother…" he said, loud and clear. Many shinobi in the group looked from Itachi to Sasuke, noting the resemblance. Itachi smirked some more and lowered his head so that he was level with Hinata's neck Hinata's eyes were wide open in fear. Gaara was standing near by Sasuke; his fists were also clenched, frowning.

"Itachi Uchiha…" his low voice mumbled. Itachi looked at Gaara from his spot behind Hinata, still smirking. His frowned deepened a bit. Sasuke clenched his fist so tightly; his nails dig into the flesh of his palms. Ino's eyes were bulging out of her head; Chai was just plain surprised, as was Shikamaru. Lee was panting heavily, from delivering all those kicks and punches. Temari and Sakura both had fingers to their lips, Kankuro was frowning, Crow was reared up and ready to lunge forward if needed to attack. Indeed, the tension in the air was thick.

"Gaara of the Sand…" Itachi mumbled back, his equally deep voice contained just as much venom. Gaara seemed to tense up when Itachi would lean in to brush his lips against Hinata's neck. He watched as Hinata shivered and dropped the card she had used earlier. Neji was standing next to Tenten, panting. He had been hammering away at Itachi using kunai's, but it didn't work, he was just too strong. Neji was beyond furious, he had evaded all of his attacks, and the fact that Itachi was holding his cousin. 'He better not touch her-'he stopped his train of thoughts as Itachi leaned in and nipped at Hinata pale skinned neck. He widened his white eyes a fraction. Itachi's tongue peeked out between his thin lips, licking Hinata's soft nape. Hinata closed her eyes and frowned, shivering a bit. Blood trickled out of the gashes in Sasuke's palms that formed when his nails dug deeper into his skin. Naruto who was on his hands and knees, slowly got up and dusted his orange pants off. Kiba reached into his kunai holster, and took out a burgundy kunai that was decorated with little yellow puppy paws. Watching Itachi close his eyes, as if he was enjoying Hinata's taste, Kiba threw a Kunai at his shoulder. The kunai sped towards its target with breakneck speed.

As if seeing the kunai speeding towards him, Itachi snapped open his wildly spinning, Sharingan eyes. Removing one hand from Hinata's waist, but tightening the grip of his other, he backhanded the supposed attack. The kunai spun off Itachi's swung arm, deflecting, and stuck head-first into the snow.

"Ksoh!" Kiba cursed under his breath, panting slightly.

By now, everybody was reaching for a weapon of their own, and yet Itachi had pulled no threats yet.

Sakura and Ino had pulled out kunai and shuriken of their own, Temari had untied the rope holding her fan, though it was still closed, she held it out in front of her in case Itachi made another daring move. Tenten also took out a kunai, tying an explosion tag around the hilt and eyeing Itachi menacingly. Neji looked ready to sprint over and attack. Lee and Chai were both in offensive Taijutsu stances.

Itachi just stared at all of them, his gaze lingered on Sasuke. He brought his mouth to Hinata's neck again, tongue peeking out from between his thin lips. But before he could taste her again, Hinata had pulled out a two foot dagger from under her obi and stabbed at Itachi's arm fiercely, legs swaying to the side at the force of her thrust.

The metallic blade bit into Itachi's tough flesh, his eyes widened, Sharingan slowly fading. Letting out a groan, he hunched over, loosening his grip on Hinata as he did so, but tight enough to keep her prisoner.

Sasuke saw this chance and charged forth, Sharingan activated. Just then a sheet of white light stopped Sasuke of proceeding in attacking Itachi. A man with bright red hair, (somewhat brighter than Gaara's) a pink sleeveless top with matching pink and black gloves, and beige dress pants came falling from the sky in an impressive speed. Sasuke's orbs locked onto the seemingly graceful man swoop down, pulling out a European like double edged sword. Raiding it high above his head in a heroic manner, he came down hard, striking Itachi's shoulder while managing to rotate his body rapidly. The red haired man looked about their age, and he seemed inflict some major damage.

"Light spear!" he shouted, his voice deep, yet high pitched at the same time.

Itachi was sent stumbling back a few meters or so, due to the force applied to the blow. In the process, he pushed Hinata forwards, thus, freeing her. She lurched forwards; about to plummet to the snow covered ground. Gaara quickly released some of his sand to break her fall, but the mysterious savior caught Hinata, securing her in his arms. Gaara scowled and more sand spurted out of his gourd. The sand slithered, around and around until it came to the stranger's feet, daring him to make a wrong move. The stranger hadn't noticed, he was preoccupied with wrapping his arms around Hinata's waist. Gaara watched as he tightened his grip ever so slightly, allowing Hinata to rest her back against his chest. Inside, Gaara was turning green with envy.

Itachi stopped stumbling and regained most of his balance. Sasuke took this opportunity to quickly run up to his older brother, giving sharp kicks to his stomach. (Hah, don't worry; Itachi isn't as weak as you think.) Delivering the blow that should've finished him, Sasuke's eyes followed Itachi as he flew backwards through the air. Just as he was about to land on his back, he disappeared, narrowly missing the flurry of kunai that were thrown at him by nearly everyone, even Hinata had gently asked the mysterious swordsman to shift his arm a bit, just so she could pull out a kunai of her own. 'Just 'cause I've been attacked does not mean I can be pushed around!' she had thought.

Sasuke turned his head in all directions, desperately looking for where Itachi might appear. Everyone else did the same, Itachi may attack anyone, the man clad in pink, was scanning the area with his now wide aqua eyes. His sword was encased in a cobalt colored sheath, strapped around his broad waist with a black belt. Ino jumped onto Shikamaru suddenly.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYIIKKKKKKEEEEEESSS!" her high pitched scream seemed to travel across the vast, but yet snowy terrain. Shikamaru looked startled, but he blinked his now wide eyes, staring at the frightened blonde.

"What happened?" Neji called out to them, Tenten clutching his arm. "I FELT SOMETHING TOUCH MY FOOT!" she hollered back, earning her looks of confusion.

The ground shook and rumbled loudly underneath them. Naruto stumbled and fell on his bottom. Gaara frowned again, though the shaking of the ground beneath them didn't affect him much. He could trace someone's chakra signature underneath the crust of the earth. 'I'll get him… I'll tear him apart and delve him in his corpse in his own damn blood…' upon feeling the familiar need to kill, Gaara stiffened as the former power of bloodlust took over. It seems as if Shukaku had left him some uncontrollable urges to hurt the ones who he thought of as truly repulsive. The feeling for killing, the feeling of blood sliding down his face, it was all just too much for even Gaara to handle. Hunching over, no longer able to contain the urges building up inside of his soul, Gaara clutched his head. His fingers entangled themselves in the red locks; Gaara realized that he could no longer feel the presence of Shukaku. His eyes widened, tiny veins appeared at the corners of his eyes. His knees buckled, unable to sustain his upper body weight any longer. Gaara collapsed into the cold snow.

Temari and Kankuro both widened their eyes. 'He's convulsing!'

* * *

Suzume-kage: Tsk, Tsk, Tsk… Short chapter… Yes… Will I make another one shortly…? Damn right… How about we zero-in on how the cast from one of my all time favorite RPG's is getting along with some of the characters from Naruto… 

Zelos: No, Pink is MY favorite color!

Naruto: Like hell yeah! Only REAL men wear pink! (Naruto and Zelos nod in unison)

Sasuke, Gaara: Ugh… (rub temples)

Suzume-kage: Ok… well maybe there'll be some progress, next time. Oh and also you may have noted Zelos's first appearance on the sets. If you have no clue whatsoever on whom on earth Zelos is, check my profile; click the link with Zelos's name beside it. Don't worry! Gaara will probably make it to the next chapter; I'd cry if he doesn't!

Sayonara,

xSuzumex

xKagex


	11. The Law of Battle

Kairo Chapter 11

Zelos: Welcome you darn good-looking folks!

Sakura: (Winks) Does that include me, Zelos-kun?

Zelos: (Examines teeth in mirror) Depends…

Naruto: Like HELL it does, Sakura-hime!

Lloyd: …Hime? …Professor Sage, what the heck does 'Hime' mean?

Raine: (Sigh) It means princess in Japanese.

Lloyd: Ah. On with the story…

* * *

Gaara clutched his head even tighter, feeling the waves of pain coursing through his body. Eyes wide, and chest heaving, he dared looking up with out lurching forward in pain. Seeing his siblings staring at him with bewildered and concerned expressions.

"Nnngghh…" Gaara grunted his usual cold toned voice hoarse and cracked. His body threatened to fall down, on Gaara's stomach. Temari and Kankuro both saw this and rushed over.

Temari wrapped her arms around her little brother, pulling him close. Surprisingly, he buried his head into her neck. Something he didn't do since the sand siblings were very young. Tears came to Temari's eyes as Gaara rubbed his now damp face on her neck. 'He's crying…' Temari thought sadly. The last time Gaara cried was when their dad, the former Kazekage, destroyed all of his toys.

Kankuro wrapped a comforting arm around Temari's shoulder, putting his other hand on top of Gaara's fiery red head. He rubbed Gaara's head, messing up his red locks. (Not that it was neat to begin with.) Gaara let out a small hiccup. Kankuro looked at his older sister with a shocked expression, Gaara was actually crying! The shocked look quickly disappeared from Kankuro's face as he noticed that Temari was sobbing quietly.

Hinata gasped, forgetting about the battle, she ran over to Gaara who was being cradled by Temari. She knelt down beside Temari, who was weeping along with her baby brother. Hinata reached out, her hand and fingers trembling and stroked Gaara's stiff back. Gaara's back muscles tensed up even more at first, but relaxed when he realized it was Hinata.

Getting up from Temari's lap, (He somehow ended up in) Gaara turned to Hinata. His eyes were pink around his irises. Taking her hand in his, he guided it to his chest. Placing Hinata's hand over his heart, he stared into her eyes. Hinata blushed lightly. Sasuke scowled darkly, and everyone else stared in awe. Tenten, Ino, Sakura and Chai sighed dreamily. Temari smiled, wiping a few stray tears away.

Leaning in, Hinata proceeded in planting a chaste kiss to Gaara's left cheek. Just then a hand shot up from the ground, fingers clamping around Hinata's arm. She gasped, eyes shot wide. 'Itachi's back!'

Gaara's pained expression deepened, but he willed the sand to clamp around the arm. The sand shifted into the form of a hand, grabbing the limb sticking up from the ground, pulling it up violently.

It was being pulled up so hard by the sand, that Hinata thought that it would come right off Itachi's body. The sand kept pulling until Itachi's hand let go of Hinata's arm. Hinata was scared to death, she was roughly clutching Gaara's maroon shirt.

Gaara winced as another wave of pain overcame him, his control over the sand weakened and loosened. That was a big mistake, because as soon as the sand was loose enough, Itachi emerged from the dirt.

Brushing off excess sand off of his dirty cloak, he stared at Gaara and his supposed victim. Before he could move, he sensed something sharp slicing through the air behind him. Quickly reaching into his cloak and pulling out a Numei sword, Itachi batted away at the kunai, much like Sammy Sosa would to a baseball.

"OH GOD DAMN YOU!" Naruto hollered, causing Sakura who was standing beside him to clutch her ears. 'We have to do something!' She thought. 'If we can't take care of even ONE Akatsuki member, how are we supposed to clear this mission?' Her jade eyes wandered to where Itachi was standing, Chai and Lee were going crazy. 'Tsunade once told me, that when you're in a situation where you can't do anything, you just have to do what you can!' with a new sense of determination swirling inside of her, Sakura ran into the fray.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto called after her. Turning around, Sakura gave him an angry look. "Don't just stand their gaping all day! We need to take Itachi down!" she yelled, turning her head back to the fight that was beginning again. 'Yeah!' Naruto ran after her.

"Neji!" Shikamaru shouted while dodging a storm of tiny shuriken. Neji jumped back to Shikamaru who took his distance from the enemy. Panting, he turned to the analysis expert. "What?" Neji moved his head to the side to evade another kunai, still facing Shikamaru.

"I have a plan." Shikamaru replied, looking to the Byakugan master. "If everybody can keep him busy," he paused deflecting a senbon that was supposed to plunge into his stomach. "Maybe me and Kankuro can immobilize him by using my shadow possession technique, and his puppet master technique." Neji gazed at him absently, considering the plan. Shikamaru watched, but widened his eyes suddenly when a dagger flew dangerously close to his head. Luckily it made a by-pass, and plunged into the snow.

Neji looked at him and nodded quickly, his cheeks were pink because of the cold. Shikamaru nodded back and jumped further back. Neji grit his teeth and went deeper into, what seemed like a raging war zone. Kunai, senbon, shuriken flying out in all directions, the clang of metal clashing against metal, sparks flying due to the burning of chakra, and the cries of pain and struggle. A shrill scream echoed through the shell of his ears before he realized what had happened. As if regaining his eye sight, Neji looked to the source of the scream.

Sure enough, their was Tenten. The long sword, thin sword that Itachi had pulled out earlier was slashed across her stomach. The sword was stuck in Tenten's left hip. Her eyes were wide, she was taking deep ragged breaths, but anyone could tell that. Temari, who was actually protecting Gaara, was about to swing her fan but stopped short when she saw what everyone else was staring at. Itachi grinned malevolently, pulling it out sharply, causing Tenten to crumble to the snow covered ground. Blood leaked out of Tenten's wound, the red droplets contrasting with the white snow.

"Tenten!" Anger and Rage swelled in Neji's chest. Sprinting forwards, he scooped Tenten up in his arms. Itachi showed no signs of striking at him. He shifted her around so that he was cradling her in his arms. Her eyes were closed and her buns were messy, her Chinese styled top was ripped from ones side of her waist all the way to the middle of her belly. Her tan stomach was exposed. 'This can not be good, this wasn't destined to happen!' Neji thought miserably. He eyed her ripped clothing. 'She'll freeze.'

"Tenten!" Sakura shrieked, running over to aid her friend. Running up to Neji, she wrapped her arms around Tenten's waist, looking to Neji for permission to carry her. Neji was reluctant, but he positioned Tenten in Sakura's arms. He nodded and watched Sakura give him a small smile, running to a safe spot so she can use a healing technique.

Lee gritted his teeth ferociously, Chai scowled angrily, and they both charged ruthlessly towards Itachi. Chai was knocked back with another swing of Itachi's sword, but Lee managed to cling onto his blood-stained cloak. What a delirious move! Lee has definitely lost his mind!

From near by, Gaara was staring at the scene, panting heavily. Most of the pain had subsided, but Gaara hadn't fully recovered from his 'attack'. One of his best friends, and former victims, was about to die. 'A foolish move that can cost Lee his life… Unless… He has a few tricks up his sleeve.'

In fact, Lee had created quite a commotion with Itachi. While Lee latched onto his arm, he started pounding him with punches to Itachi's chest and stomach. Itachi had hunched over, spitting some blood onto the snow when Lee landed a successful blow. Lee planted his feet on Itachi's hip, and jumped off of him. Itachi slumped over even further. He glared up at Lee, who frowned. They stared each other down, both staying in their positions.

Tenten had been healed; she sat cross legged in the snow, a blanket from Sakura's supplies bag draped around her shoulders. Chai who had been hurt earlier was currently clutching her side, Sakura was bandaging her left hip. Chai eyed the fight. Lee and Itachi were just standing there, staring at each other. No one seemed like they would move anytime soon. Neji had walked over to comfort Tenten. Chai watched as Neji sat down, hauling Tenten up onto his lap with his arms. He whispered sweet things into her ear, making her close her eyes and coo. She smiled, but raised her eyebrows when she heard trudging noises.

Itachi had stood up, still glaring, but he didn't seem to be focusing on just Lee. He leered at every one of them, pausing, and holding his gaze on Hinata, and the stranger in the pink jacket.

"You may have one this round, but that doesn't mean you'll get the best of both worlds next time." He growled evilly, hiding his Numei back into his cloak.

Sasuke lunged forwards, kunai poised and ready to stab. But before he could even touch the material of Itachi's cloak, Itachi glared at him and disappeared in a puff of red smoke. Sasuke halted, breathing in even breaths. 'He was gone for now… But I wonder why he came anyway.' That thought ran through everyone's heads. Stashing the kunai back into it's holster, Sasuke turned to the group.

Tenten looked up at the sky, getting up from Neji's lap. She smiled brightly, forgetting that she was still injured.

"Let's go! It's off to the Ice Country!"

"WAIT A SECOND!" A voice, shriller than Ino's hollered. Everybody froze and looked for the source. Sakura stood their, ruffling her own pink locks and smiling sheepishly, staring at the man with flaming red hair, and pink clothes.

"We didn't catch YOUR name!"

* * *

This chapter was all about the action, as you probably know by now, the fight with Itachi was pretty long. But in the end, the team wins, but some of the shinobi are injured. Next chapter, they will finally find out who the mysterious guy in pink is.

Zelos: It's me! Zelos Wilder!

Lloyd: Shut up, Zelos!

Naruto: Yeah! Shut up!

Sasuke: How about you two shut up!

Naruto, Lloyd: NO!!!

Hinata: EVERYBODY QUITE!

Sasuke, Naruto, Lloyd, Zelos: Oo Whoa…

Temari: You tell them, girl!

Suzume-kage: Umm… wow…


	12. Of Worlds and Shino

Kairo Chapter 12

"The name's Zelos, my pink hunny." Zelos smirked slyly, making Sakura sigh dreamily. They were supposed to be continuing the mission, but since everyone, well mostly Sakura was so eager to know who this mysterious person was, they took a break.

"The name's Zelos. Zelos Wilder. At your service!" Zelos stated proudly, tossing his, wispy looking hair. Sakura stared at him, drool leaking out of the side of her mouth. 'He's so fine!' she thought, getting her red top wet. She shook her head vigorously, and looked at Naruto who was grinning at Zelos like an idiot.

"Hey! That was a pretty impressive technique back there!" Naruto complimented, rubbing the back of his neck and walking over to the red haired male. (Not Gaara, Zelos) Zelos looked at Naruto and his pink lips spread out into a smile, the pink tinge to his cheeks because of the cold only added to his hotness. Sakura swooned somewhere at the back.

"Yeah, you think so? Ah, yeah!" He suddenly said. Naruto jumped a bit. "What?"

"Being in another world feels great! I mean, how long has it been since we've left Tethe'Alla huh? Like six years?" Naruto jumped back, eyes wide in shock and disbelief.

"Get OUT! What do you mean 'another world?' You are so totally from Earth! There's no WAY you are an alien from another planet!" Naruto hollered, making those near by flinch and cover their ears. Hinata put her hand over her mouth. 'He's from another world!' she thought. 'Whatever girl, you guys can have a long distance relationship or something, because he is HOT.' Her inner self piped, drooling hungrily. Hinata had to agree, except for the light shade of pink he wore, Zelos was a charming young man. He looked to be about nineteen, just a bit older than her, and most of the team.

Zelos fluttered his long eyelashes at Naruto. "What's so hard to believe? You got a thing against people from other worlds?" Zelos's tone identified that he was getting rather offended. Naruto looked confused, but then noticed his mistake, flailing his arms wildly in front of him, much like Ino does. Zelos narrowed his eyes into little slits.

"No, no!" Naruto began, sighing and closing his eyes for a moment before continuing. "You just look so much like us! Like a human, I meant!" His hands had stopped flailing, and were slowly falling to the sides of his orange jacket. Zelos scoffed snobbishly, tossing his hair with his free hand.

"Well, pshh… Duh, I am human! What did you think I was an ape or something?" Zelos spat, getting annoyed now. Naruto shook his head 'no' quickly. He was getting frightened; this Zelos guy was getting ticked off. The group chuckled at Naruto's misfortune.

Zelos was about to say more, when Temari cut in, with a frown on her usually cheerful face.

"Don't start something!" she warned, planting her hands on her hips. Zelos looked at her and switched moods quick. He jumped over and hugged Temari tightly.

"Not to worry, my cool hunny! Me and this…" he examined Naruto like he was some interesting organism. "Carrot… were having a creative discussion! Isn't that right Blondie?" he asked Naruto coolly, wrapping his arm around Temari's shoulders.

"Naruto. It's Naruto. NA-RU-TO." Naruto said through clenched teeth. Zelos waved him off, and yawned. "Yes. Narowtow… "Naruto slapped his forehead. Snickers rippled throughout the group. Even Gaara chuckled softly, but eyed the newcomer dangerously.

"Can we start moving now?" Kiba asked, frowning. He was getting impatient; they weren't making any progress by just dawdling around in the snow. Zelos raised a bright red eyebrow.

"Oi, speaking of moving, I forgot to ask who you people are. So I'll go ahead and ask. Introduce yourselves to me please." Hinata nodded and stood beside Neji.

"Hinata Shogi"

Neji gave Hinata a glance but stated his name as well.

"Neji Hyuga"

"Tenten Yang!"

"Sakura Haruno!" Sakura said with a playful smile and toss of her vibrant pink hair.

"Gaara Sabaku." Gaara nodded towards Zelos.

"I'm his older brother Kankuro Sabaku." Kankuro also nodded.

"I'm the oldest. Temari Sabaku." Temari told Zelos, stretching out her hand to shake. Zelos shook hands with her, and looked to Ino,

"Ino Yamanaka. And this is my future husband, Shikamaru Nara!" She said happily, pointing to herself and Shikamaru. Shikamaru only shrugged, looking at the sky lazily.

Zelos grinned and looked to the next person.

"Naruto Uzumaki! Future Hokage, believe it!" He cried, pumping his fist up into the air. Zelos chuckled, his low voice sounded quite manly. (Suzume-kage: Manly? What was I thinking?) He turned to a creepy looking man with bushy eyebrows and bulging eyes.

"I am Rock Lee! The Hidden Leaf's village's handsome devil! And this is the Hokage's beautiful daughter, Chai!" Lee shouted, fire visible in his eyes, Chai bowed and smiled politely. Zelos smiled and looked over to the one person that hadn't spoken yet. Sasuke. The albino in question was standing lazily, staring at Zelos with his usual impassive expression.

"…What…?" He asked boredly. Zelos grinned from ear to ear, much like a certain blonde haired Leaf nin. 'This dude's like another Kratos! (1)' Zelos thought.

"Introduce yourself, Mr. Tough!" Zelos practically walked up and yelled in Sasuke's face.

Sasuke flinched and scowled at Zelos's loud tone, but remained impassive as he introduced himself.

"Sasuke Uchiha." He stated tossing his hair with his hand. Zelos nodded, looking around the area. They were still in Winter Wonderland.

"So anyway, where are you ninja off to?" Zelos asked casually glancing at one Leaf nin to the next.

"The Ice country!" Tenten piped, pointing in the direction where another forest was in view. Zelos looked over, and smiled.

"Well, as much as it breaks my heart to have to say this but… I'll be parting ways with you from here on…" Zelos said, faking sadness. Neji raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? And where might you be going off to?" he asked in his usual know-it-all tone. Zelos spun around, making his floppy hair fly around his head. He spun around for about thirty seconds before pointing a gloved finger to the sky.

"Up there, my friends! To my home world of Tethe'Alla to be exact." He answered, making everyone glance up to the sky in wonder. Shikamaru, who was staring at the sky the whole time, glanced up in the direction Zelos was pointing to. He didn't see anything but clouds and grey skies for miles. Looks like no one believed Zelos at the moment…

"Oh? And where is this 'Tethe'Alla' place you speak of?" Neji asked, undoing the knot on his hitai-ate, and retying it to his head. Zelos looked over at Neji and smiled.

"It's actually pretty amazing, the location of Tethe'Alla, that is." He said dreamily. Sakura's eyes sparkled with interest.

"Really?" She asked, glancing up into the heavens then back at the red haired, blue eyed swordsman. Zelos nodded and glanced up again.

"You know, there are really three worlds, Earth, Tethe'Alla and Sylvarant. These three worlds are parallel with one another and are connected by these thick strings of Mana, or what you may call, Chakra. These worlds are o close to each other; they can't even see each other. (Suzume-kage: Wonder how that works? Me too…)

Shikamaru raised his hand like he was answering some sort of math question. Zelos grinned and nodded.

"Shikamaru? Want to say something?" Shikamaru nodded his head lazily and shuffled his feet, trying to keep warm.

"These strings of Mana and Chakra, are they called Mana Links?" he asked, spreading some of his genius. Zelos nodded.

"Yeah, these really fat strings are called Mana links. These Links keep the Mana, or chakra flowing through out the worlds. So to sum it all up, let's just say that we live in a triple planet system." With that said, Zelos bowed and got ready to leave. The Konoha and Suna nin watched as Zelos lurched forwards suddenly, surprising them all. Naruto reached to grab him but stopped short as orangish-yellow wings sprouted from Zelos's back. They watched in amazement as Zelos flew upwards, a smile gracing his angelic features.

"Wait!" A male's voice rang out. Everyone, including Zelos turned to Naruto. "YOU CAN FLY?! THAT'S SO AWSOME!!" He cried. Zelos winked.

"Maybe next time, I'll take you guys with me, to Tethe'Alla." Nearly everyone's faces lit up. Zelos smiled again and flew up higher, he was about to speed up until another voice rang out. This time, it was a female's.

"Wait, Zelos! What would happened if one of the planets in the triple planet system ran out of Mana?" Hinata asked loudly, so she was audible to Zelos's ears.

Zelos thought for a moment before answering.

"Good catch my voluptuous hunny! If one of the worlds is running low on Mana, the other worlds with have to double the Mana flow to the declining planet. But then because of this, the other two worlds run out of mana, and that's where the Chosen of Regeneration kicks in. The Chosen of regeneration then breaks these things called Seals which are located in each of the three worlds. By breaking the seals, they awaken the Summon Spirits and Mana is restored." He finished with a wave. The ninja looked at each other in amazement. This gave the ninja a more different point of view of the world, of Konoha, and it also gave them some sort of hunch that this whole 'World Regeneration' thing was related to the mission.

"So is there any world in decline at the moment?" asked a very curious Hinata.

"… Yes… In fact there is." Hinata heard a familiar voice from above. A very familiar voice. Yes, in fact that voice belonged to none other than Shino Aburame.

The group of Shinobi looked up to see Shino descending down from the sky, a pair of green nymph-like wings grown from his shoulder blades and lower back. Hinata's eyes lit up like a candle.

"Shino!" She exclaimed. Kiba grinned, and shook his head.

"The buginator!" Kiba shouted, everyone chuckled at the nickname. Shino landed on his feet, the green nymph wings fluttering lightly in the winter air. Shino's heart shaped face remained the same; his jaw was more defined though. And he still wore those tiny sun shades. He was taller, and wore a large white coat-like hoodie with black baggy jeans. His cheeks were already starting to redden in the nippy air, a small smile complimented his pale features.

"Ohayo, everyone." He greeted quietly.

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Suzume-kage: Sorry about the late update. But I went to Japan, and Detroit. All in one summer. Impressive huh? Well the good part is that I got NX Cash for MapleStory. Sorry random, but my maple story girl looks CUTE. Im now a level 57 assassin… Anyhow, no that this latest chapter is up, I'm going to TRY to get up the next one in a few days (or weeks… Ayieeeh!)

(1) Kratos Aurion- This guy's profile is in my profile; check it out if you wish.

Ja Ne!!!


	13. Picking up the Pace

Kairo Chapter 13

"SHINO?!" Naruto's high pitched voice seemed to wrap all around the group in the vast eerie, snow-covered meadow.

Shino nodded, a smile playing at his usually serious and stern face. Naruto and the rest of the group watched in utter amazement as Shino jumped high up, fluttering his wings swiftly right before landing on the ground, making him hover a few feet above the snow. Hinata's eyes widened in amazement, a gasp of delight was heard from both Ino and Sakura. Kiba stared at Shino with a puzzled expression.

"Yo, Shino!" a grin marked Zelos's handsome face as he ran towards his friend. "Is everything okay up there?"

The shinobi watched as the two seemingly best friends chatted away amongst themselves, mumbling something about the "Cruxis Crytals" or "Expheres". Naruto blinked his now wide eyes, and Hinata frowned. What were they talking about? After a few moments of talking, the two glanced back at the group. Paying no attention to the two's earlier conversation, Kiba piped up.

"So... Since when did you get the wings, Shino?" He asked, staring at the pointy, crystalline wings. Shino looked down at his former teammate.

"Since I received a special mission from Tsunade. I had to travel to worlds parallel from our own." he said. Shino's voice was deeper and rich now that he was nineteen. Zelos grinned up at him.

"Yeah yeah. I filled them in on some of the details, but they caught on." Zelos said evenly, shuffling his white boots. Hinata widened her eyes in surprise. Kiba opened his mouth to speak again.

"Yeah... Cool... But HOW did you get them?" He asked, still kind of weary of the situation. Shino sighed, dragging a calloused hand through his soft spiky hair.

"During the end of my mission, I was told to defeat an elven man by the name of Kvar by teaming up with people who were on a journey to restore their home world of Sylavarant. After defeating Kvar, there was still much left to do to restore chakra in that world. But in the end, I was granted these wings by a goddess called Martel." Shino explained unzipping the front of his coat down to the end of his long pale neck, to his collar bone.

Everyone looked closely, and sure enough they saw an emerald green jewel that was held in place with a shiney gold circlet. Hinata glanced at Gaara, who's eyes were transfixed to the jewel.

"This is a Cruxis Crystal. It wa smeant to transform humans into Angels." A gasp was heard from the group of shinobi.

Sasuke let out a grunt of surprise. 'This mission is certainly going down weirdo lane.' He dragged a hand through his spikey black hair, which was getting rather cold by the way.

"Shino? What do you mean? I really want to understand this all..." Sakura said, her voice shaking. "Does that mean your an... Angel?" She almost couldn't bring herself to say it. This was all too weird!

"In a way, yeah..." Shino mumbled, pulling at the collar of this beige coat. Another round of gasps started from the group. Zelos sighed.

"What are you guys?! Some old country folk that don't know anything about worlds beyond your own? Shino of _your_ world, was sent by Tsunade of the Hidden Leaf village to help the Chosen on her journey to restore Chakra in our worlds!" He explained, waving his hands around wildly, trying to make them understand.

"So, the chosen's group restored lost chakra?" Temari asked, looking for answers. Zelos nodded, but then both him and Shino frowned in unison.

"But unfortunately, the whole sequence of restoring the world has been reversed." Shino spoke quietly, digging his frozen hands into the deep pockets of his coat.

"As in... Someone stopped the sequence from happening?" Sakura asked, her green eyes sparked with newly found interest. 'I know this is too early to say, but I'd like to go to these parallel worlds...' She fiddled with the hem of her skirt.

Zelos nodded, cutting in to the conversation. "A guy by the name of Mithos wants all the energy to himself so he can create a new world for only hs sister and him."

Kankuro's head jerked back in surprise. 'How can one create a world? That must take big-ass amounts of energy and chakra... This Mithos-fool must have a lot of time on his hands.'

There was a brief moment of silence before Shino continued with his instructions.

"The whole point of you're mission is to strengthen the bonds of Chakra and Mana between the worlds. To do that, you have to awaken these things called "Summoning Spirits" like the Ice demon you guys are after." Zelos nodded in approval, not really caring if the rest of the group got it or not.

"Good tutorial Shin-kun.(Shino: Major Eye Twitch) We have to start moving if we wanna finish this mission before we turn into old geezers." With that said, Shino landed on the snow coveredground, his wings dissipating into the air and joined the group as they trudged through the snow.

**xxx**

The Ice cracked making a loud scratchy-craclking sound. Water leaked out from the cracks from the cracked sheet. The crack stretched and grew, until it reached the land around the lake. Freezing cold water erupted from the central cracks in the ice like a spring. The ice sounded like glass breaking as it was torn from its origin and flung high into the air before landing a few feet away.

A girl looked up in surprise, immediately skating back to the shore as fast as her chubby legs could carry her. She turned around, gazing at the beautiful yet dangerous display. The girl's cerulean eyes widened as a figure arose from within the widened "spring" which took on the shape of a funnel. The girl watched with amazement as the figure's silouette became more visible through the wall of water, she could just barely make out the outline of a long flowing skirt,sharp curves, and spiky looking shoulder-length hair.

The girl took a sharp intake of breath as the supposedly female being emerged from the water funnel. She was frightingly beautiful, pale blue skin shimmering with the reflection of water droplets under the moon. Cobalt eyes bore into her own, as if they was piercing through her soul.

"Who are you." It was stated more than asked. Her soft melodic voice was soothing. A song with no rhythm. The chilling winter wind blew past them, un-fazing the mystical looking woman, but making the girl hunch over and clutch her long brown parka closer.

"U-uh..." The girl stuttered, squinting as the cold air brushed against her eye-lashes. The woman blinked, her thin and slender arms folding in front of her chest.

"Well...?" The nymph like woman said, eyeing the girl with interest. The girl lifted a gloved hand to swipe at a few strands of tousled brown hair.

"I'm-m Katara." The woman smiled at the reply, and nodded slowly. They both just stood there for a while, observing each other from their distances. Katara was the one t speak this time.

"So... W-what's you're name?" Katara asked out of curiousity. The woman's smiled disappeared, and she moved with break-neck speed. Katara's eyeswere as wide as saucers as the blue-eyed stranger seemed to re-appear in front of her face. She thought she was going to experience a seizure when the stranger leaned in close to ear.

"Celcius." Was the simple answer.

**

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****Suzume's Ultra Super-Special Blah Blah Rant Number 1**: This one took a lot of plannin' to do. Be grateful that I updated at the very least. Hehehe... Isn't that weird? Shino's an angel! Things are certainly going to be more Tales of Symphonia-ish, if you know what I mean. Sorry for not updating in a few days/weeks like I said I would last chapter, but I've been busy... Training on MS (Maple Story) It took a while... buh... I finally got my 4th-Job advancement. :) --(Did you know you have to get to god-danging level 120 for that?!) 

Back on topic... Now I'm going to try to update sooner. (Don't count on it) But I've been having major problems with balancing the Romance with the... "Action/Adventure" in this story. Some times it's just hard for me. :/ I'm not much of a romantic myself, but I've been reading some of you guys's work and you're really good. (Laugh) Honestly, STOP BEING SO MODEST. Im gonna try to get inspiration off of you guys. Keep it up:D Next chapter, I'm gonna throw in some GaaxHina or maybe some SasuxHina romance tidbits in between scenes. Sound good? I know, it's horrbile...

This story... Like I said before is a cross-over between the game Tales of Symphonia and the manga Naruto. And there will be many clashes between the two in the story, this also involves Romantic relationships between the characters from both of these two animes. If you don't like the game, Tales of Symphonia or hae issues with it or whatever, stop reading. I do not want to become responsible for causing you guys som kind of Emotional Trauma becuase of some experiences you may have had with the game. XD Forgive me if it seems like I twist the plot too much, but I'm gonna try to get-to-the-point from now forth, in my future chapters.

I'm also going to start buliding up on my writing skills with some of the suggestions you guys give me. Like cutting down on the descriptions and changing the plot idea. But honestly, I have no idea what possesses me when I actually start typing. like right now. O.o **I'LL TRYYYYYY**!

Thanks for listening to me rant. :) (For those of you who did) This has been Suzume.

Ja Ne.


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